


Evander Wade Hate AU

by honeyharperofficial284



Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer
Genre: F/F, F/M, Other, Throws Canon Out The Window, and also nova gets some fucking therapy my god she needs it, its what we deserved, this au is for the gays, what canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:28:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 41,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26426386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeyharperofficial284/pseuds/honeyharperofficial284
Summary: This is an au where Evander Wade is secretly a villain purely because I don't like him and why was he all for executing a minor what was that all about. Also Danna gets a POV and good development with Narcissa and I fix my issues with canon (like how Nova was treated like wtf was that). It takes place after Danna is released from the jar.
Relationships: Danna Bell | Monarch/Narcissa Cronin, Nova Artino | Nightmare/Adrian Everhart | Sketch, Oscar Silva | Smokescreen/Ruby Tucker | Red Assassin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here are the changes made to make this make sense:  
> \- Max never got impaled and instead made it known that Nightmare kept him from getting hurt in the fight even though it put her at risk
> 
> \- Narcissa never blackmailed Nova for the helmet because I don’t know what the purpose of that was
> 
> \- Nova willingly released Danna because she may have taken the helmet but she really doesn’t want to be Nightmare anymore and frankly just wants to date Adrian and be friends with Callum
> 
> \- Nova is listed as dead and not missing in the report
> 
> \- Danna has seen the report because before she as back on field she was working with the files (and also doing her own digging on what happened to Lady Indomitable)
> 
> \- Danna and Adrian are half-siblings and they acknowledge it an are siblings but they don’t have the same parents and are fine with it. Danna very much wants to help get justice for her brother’s mom because she’s a good big sister
> 
> \- Phobia doesn’t exist
> 
> \- Adrian and Nova have been dating for a bit so there’s already a decently developed relationship

Adrian was relieved when Danna popped up. She had finally reformed as they all crowded in Ruby’s room. Everyone but Nova, who was sick, was there. Ruby had told them last night that Danna finally reformed but wanted to sleep before anything happened. But now she was awake.

“Danna!” They all cheered.

“I hate elementary school science projects,” she mumbled before falling back on the bed.

“Did- did a child catch one of your butterflies for a school project?” Adrian asked, both relieved and dying of laughter. He was worried a villain captured her but instead, it was just a school science project of a child that got in the way.

Danna nodded and all of them tried to contain their laughter. He felt bad about it, knowing how miserable Danna must have felt, but the situation was just too comical.

“We thought the Anarchists took you or something like that,” Ruby sighed happily. “I mean you lead us to Ace.”

Danna propped herself up on the bed, leaning on Oscar for some support which he was more then happy to give.

She gave them all a lazy smile. “Just because I was in swarm mode didn’t mean I wasn’t trying to help out.”

“So do you know who Nightmare could be then?” Ruby asked. “There’s rumors that she’s a spy.”

Danna bit her lip. She looked guilty. It was clear she knew but for some reason she was holding back.

“Danna?” Adrian asked cautiously. “Who is it?”

She shook her head. “It’s way more complicated then you think. I know who she is and she’s our age but the problem is that I don’t think she wants to be Nightmare. Not anymore at least.”

Everyone seemed a little surprised by that. Nightmare was an Anarchist. The Anarchists knew her. Adrian had even thought that she might have information on who killed his mom. But if she was their age she couldn’t possibly know. She’d have been a child and she would have been a child when the Anarchists were forced into the tunnels.

So that left two, both equally horrible options. The first was that they had taken her as a child and raised her so she might not have known any better from now if the Anarchists had played their cards right. The second was that she joined recently and was being forced into it to a degree.

But Nightmare was far too skilled in combat for the second option. And if she might have wanted to be Nightmare beforehand then she probably wasn’t forced into it recently.

Which meant that she was probably taken by the Anarchists as a child and raised by them.

“Why can’t you tell us who she is?” Oscar asked.

“I think if I do some digging, I can figure out what caused the mess and persuade her on our side but if I can do that, you all have to be willing to work with her.”

“What do you mean you have to do some digging?” Ruby asked.

“Nightmare is Ace Anarchy’s niece. I remember when I was off the field I helped refile some things and I didn’t file anything for the case on Nightmare’s parents, but I know the case is on file. If we can get the password to that file and then her side of the story we can probably figure all of this out and then from there, maybe who killed Lady Indomitable.”

Adrian twitched and they all passed him a look of sympathy. It had been ten years and still no one had a clue to what had happened.

“How do you know that they’re tied together?” Adrian asked, wary of her statement. He trusted Danna, but the death of his mother would always be a very guarded subject. He didn’t want to be let down.

“Look I can’t promise that they are but I’m suspicious that they are linked. I’ve overheard Honey Harper talking to Nightmare and she asked why the Sentinel was concerned with it and if any of the Anarchists had killed her. Queen Bee looked like she was trying to hide something. I think if we can get the knowledge Nightmare has and the knowledge we have, we might figure it out.”

It was risky. They might not get any answers at all and it might make more of a mess then before. But there was a chance and Adrian desperately wanted answers. He wanted justice for his mother. He had to try.

“Fine,” Adrian said. “Let’s try it. I can probably get the codes if the file is locked which it probably is.”

“Then it looks like we have our work cut out for us,” Danna said.

—

Adrian’s mind was running rampant with possibilities. He was starting to hate Nightmare a lot less and after Max said that when she stole the helmet, she took a spear to the side to protect him. He was honestly building some respect for her.

Of course the spear was never intended to be for Max but bad aim made it go his way and Nightmare intervened. He didn’t think Genissa would try to harm a child but he did believe that she would do anything to stop Nightmare and if that meant harming a child for her own gain then so be it.

There was a message going off on his band. It was from Danna and he was hoping for an update though Ruby had sent her home a while ago to go rest.

Danna: Let me in. I’m at your window.

Adrian turned his head and through the small window that went to the basement where he was, he saw a swarm of monarch butterflies waiting outside. He opened the window and they poured in before Danna reformed on his couch. She looked exhausted.

“You should be resting,” he chastised.

She shook her head. “This is more important. I figured you should know who Nightmare is first.”

He gave her an odd look. “Did you already talk to her?”

“No but whether I have or not you need to know.”

“Why?”

“Because Nightmare is your girlfriend you idiot,” she hissed.

He looked at her, dumbstruck. Nova couldn’t be Nightmare. She just couldn’t be. He didn’t want her to be.

But he trusted Danna and if Danna said she was Nightmare, then he’d believe her.

He bit his lip. “You’re sure.”

Danna nodded. “Positive unfortunately.”

Adrian hated it. He hated that Nova was Nightmare. He didn’t want their relationship to all be fake and to be a lie. He didn’t want to be something that she just used to get what she wanted.

But at the same time it made sense. It explained why Nightmare put herself in front of Max as a shield when she was fighting with Genissa and the quarantine came down. It explained why she was late to the Gala and left early. It explained why at times she defended Ace and had a bone to pick with certain Renegades policies. If anything, she had done a terrible job hiding it and they had all been oblivious.

But at least for all the terrible things that had been caused from her, she had defended Max when it made what she was trying to do much harder and put herself at risk of being caught. And at least she neutralized Genissa and her team when they should not have had positions of power. Adrian knew that but it wasn’t like he could explain it to anyone. It certainly saved him in that moral dilemma.

Danna put a hand on her shoulder.

“I know what you’re thinking but I don’t think that her feelings for you were fake. I think you’re part of the reason she’s questioning everything she knows but I know that either way, if she ends up on our side or not, it’s probably something you needed to process ahead of time.”

“Yeah probably a smart idea,” he said, forcing out a laugh. “I guess I need to tell her about being the Sentinel too.”

She gave him a sympathetic smile. Danna didn’t seem all that mad at him for burning her but he supposed that they had bigger things to deal with.

“I hope things work out for the two of you,” she said.

“I do too.”

Danna then did the most surprising thing of all. She pulled him into a hug.

She wasn’t big on physical contact, even with him and they were siblings. Half siblings at least through their dad. Danna said that he wanted to help, but her mom dropped her off at his door and he didn’t have the resources to help with another child.

And after a while Adrian didn’t care for him and had Hugh and Simon so it didn’t matter at all. It had been an ironic surprise when they found out and really the team and their parents knew. Even with different parents they were still siblings and did their best to have that relationship and no one was ever inclined to stop them.

But Danna hugging him meant a lot but at the same time didn’t give him much reassurance. She only gave hugs when they were really needed and that didn’t make him optimistic for the outcome of his and Nova’s relationship.

“I said it earlier, but I don’t think it’s much of a choice for her at this point. I mean, just some of the things I saw and heard. They’d guilt trip her every ten minutes with her parents death and for the gala they were insistent on trying to make her sexual when she kept fighting it.”

Adrian shivered. The more he learned about Nova’s home life the more he was revolted by it all.

“Yeah this stuff keeps getting more messed up the more we look into it.”

“Well someone has to do it,” she said as she went back out the window. “Good luck.”

She then went back into swarm mode and left. He shut the window but didn’t lock it in case she came back later. His pen flying through his fingers as he paced through the room, trying to sort out his feelings.

Adrian wanted to scream. He wanted to cry and shout and do all sorts of things. He knew it was a bad idea though. He didn’t know what was going on through Nova’s mind and if she truly was on their side and they still had a chance of having some form of a relationship, then he couldn’t ruin it by making his feelings widely known.

That would make people suspicious and he needed that least of all at the moment.

He was also extremely upset over what could be happening to her.

It didn’t make sense for a 16 year old girl to be an assassin and in league with supervillains. She was 6 when the Anarchists disbanded and wasn’t even an adult yet. No one Adrian’s age was going to willingly join supervillains and he wondered just how much Nova was dealing with before she decided enough was enough. He wondered if he or any members of the team had done anything to decide that enough was enough.

Adrian hoped they had but he couldn’t guarantee anything and only time would tell.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nova and Danna talk some stuff out.

The Anarchists had fled the house once Danna’s jar got opened. Now it was empty, all of them having taken their things and fled, leaving Nova to put some of it together like it was all normal. If anyone came it would just be her home alone with no incriminating evidence.

As it should have been.

But Nova’s heart was pounding. They’d be here for her any second. Danna would tell them who she really was and everything would crumble. If she was here, having not fled, then it would seem less suspicious and maybe she’d have a chance.

She couldn’t take it any longer. She hated trapping Danna and had to let her go. It was a nice run while it lasted but it was not one she could handle and with the realization about the Anarchists using her as a pawn her whole life setting in, if she couldn’t win then she was going to bring them down with her.

Then, a swarm of butterflies started pouring into the house. Nova’s heart sped up. It was over. It was all over.

Part of her dreaded this. She didn’t want what she had with Adrian to be done. She didn’t want to lose the friends she made.

But at the same time, it was a relief. No more lies or secrets or half-truths. Her relationship with Adrian and Oscar and Ruby would vanish but at least she could take a deep breath.

Danna formed in front of her, giving her a blank but gentle face. It put Nova on edge.

Was it a sick trick? Was it a trap? It couldn’t be safe.

Nova took a step back, wary and on guard.

“Have you come to turn me in?” Nova asked quietly.

Danna shook her head. “I want to talk.”

“Why? Why not turn me in?”

“Because at this point I don’t think you want to continue doing this façade. Maybe at first you did but now you feel like you have to.”

“So now you’re going to psychoanalyze me?” Nova asked, defensive.

Danna gritted her teeth, glaring. Clearly things weren’t going to be buddy-buddy between them if they managed to work this out. Not like Nova anticipated that anyways.

“Look I’m offering you a chance out of this. I’ve talked to the team and I didn’t tell them that you’re Nightmare but I’ve gotten them to agree that if I can get you on our side that they wouldn’t tell or hold it against you.”

“I may not want to be an Anarchist anymore but why would I want to side with the Renegades when all they’ve done is make my life even more miserable,” Nova hissed.

The Anarchists certainly weren’t good. They had taken her as a child and trained her to be an assassin. Growing up she was always covered in bruises and she usually had bad cuts and broken bones that they couldn’t take her to get healed. And they knew they couldn’t take her to get help but they hurt her anyways and she’d get infections and get sick and they’d still have her train.

They would tell her if she really wanted justice, to do the right thing for her family, then she’d keep training. They told her that all the time and now, while she still wanted justice for her family, she understood that they were just using her to get rid of the Renegades. She was just their pawn and she was disposable. They didn’t care about her or bringing justice for her family.

Nova began to understand that a lot more when all of them tried to make her seductive. They let Honey put her in those ridiculous outfits against her will when she was only 17 and the only person who had ever given her a choice in any situation was Leroy. But even then he didn’t stand up for her and by the time he was giving her more choices, it was too late. The Anarchists had her where they wanted her.

The Renegades weren’t great either and were bad in their own way. They usually left the Anarchists alone, but they created the situation that allowed for Nova to be stuck with the Anarchists. And then when they did come around all they did was raid the tunnels and take away all their food and money. They would have to hide things so they didn’t starve. They’d have to hide Nova so they didn’t take her too and while Nova now wished she had been taken from the Anarchists, she didn’t think being taken would make her life any better.

Without her parents no one wanted her. Nova’s extended family never liked her parents or her because her dad was a prodigy and no one would want to adopt Ace Anarchy’s niece or another random prodigy child, especially not one harbored by the Anarchists temporarily.

Maybe that was why Leroy never tried to help her get out or gave her so many choices as a child as she did now. 

“I can see why you don’t trust the Renegades. When I was off the field I saw the file on your parents and then after finding out you were Ace Anarchy’s niece I put the situation together. I know they were supposed to come and they didn’t but I’m pretty sure Lady Indomitable was supposed to come that night but was killed on the way there. She was patrolling the area,” Danna said.

It was like a slap to the face but so much worse.

It couldn’t be true.

The Renegades hadn’t come. They had failed. They had forgotten and left her behind. They did it then and they did it again after the Battle of the Cathedral when they left her there with the Anarchists when they knew that Ace had her.

And the worst part was that it was well known that it was probably an Anarchist who killed Lady Indomitable.

“So whoever helped kill Lady Indomitable probably helped kill my parents,” Nova said quietly.

So we figure out who killed her, then we get justice for your parents,“ Danna said. "Which is what you want right?" 

Nova nodded. "Yeah that’s all that I’ve wanted.”

“So then you side with us and we all try to figure out who killed Adrian’s mom and then we all get what we want. However, no one but the team can know about this search. Just as a precaution.”

Nova sniffled and wiped her face. “Fine. But this doesn’t mean I like the Renegades.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve read the report on my family too. It says I was missing at the scene and they knew Ace took me but instead of looking for me they wrote me off as dead. They never looked for me and left me there to rot and let me get myself into this mess. They knew they were leaving me with supervillains and didn’t care and even if they did, it doesn’t mean the Anarchists deserve what they’ve gotten.”

“They’re supervillains, how could they not deserve it?” Danna asked.

Nova thought of all the times she was forced to hide under the train cars, watching as the Renegades ransacked everything. The first time it happened, they didn’t know it was coming and they all went hungry.

The Renegades gave them nothing. They didn’t even give them the tunnels and tried to take back the subway to this day, saying they’d eventually open it back up for the past few years even though it never happened.

There was no electricity or water or opportunities to make money and when they did make money to at the very least feed themselves, the Renegades would do their best to take that money and business away. Nova had to build up an electrical system at 7 years old with spare parks and pieces of junk and she had rebuilt it several times after the Renegades tore it down.

“Maybe they deserve punishment but they barely have anything and somehow, when Renegades come to check on us they take it away,” Nova snarled. “They’d take all our food and all our money and try to say that everything we do is illegal even though they are just trying to make money to eat most of the time. There’s no electricity or running water and even now they talk about how they’re going to take back the subway system even though it’s all we have and no one has needed it, let alone come down there since the Age of Anarchy.”

It seemed like that shocked Danna as much as it shocked Nova that Lady Indomitable was on her way to help.

“Genissa and her team were one of them, but I can tell you so many Renegades, even council members, who have done the same and not cared about how it would affect us. They may not have known that they were trying to raise a child but it still didn’t make it right,” Nova said.

Danna held her hand out. “Truce then. You help us figure out who killed Lady Indomitable and stop being Nightmare. In return we won’t tell anyone that you’re Nightmare and we’ll leave you alone for the rest of your life.”

“Deal,” Nova said. “And by the way I really am sorry for trapping you in a jar.”

She truly was sorry about it. She knew how much damage it would cause but she couldn’t risk anyone knowing she was an Anarchist. Even if it ended up in her favor, offering her a way out of the mess with the Anarchists, Nova still felt guilty for it. No one deserved to be trapped or held hostage.

“I’m still pissed at you for it but I understand a lot better. If anything, it’s helped both of us. You’re getting a way out and I was able to go and collect information on what happened to Lady Indomitable.”

“I really hope we figure this out. For all of us,” Nova said.

“Me too,” Danna said. “And by the way, good luck with Adrian.”

“Thanks. I hope you’re feeling better after being trapped in a jar so long.”

“I’ll be okay. I told the others that I got trapped by some kid trying to do a science project for school.”

Nova laughed, smiling. “I feel like that’s even worse.”

“I mean I was definitely already scared of middle schoolers but now that I think of it, I really am scared of kids doing science projects,” Danna joked grinning too. 

“I know. Have you met Magpie?”

Danna burst out laughing. “You two hate each other so much.”

“She tried to take my bracelet and she still does but it’s the last thing I have of my parents. You’d be upset too,” Nova defended.

“It’s weird because you look a lot alike and have similar mannerisms. You had a sister right?”

“Yeah why?” Nova asked.

“I mean, if they counted you off as dead then what if they did the same to your sister or at least took her in and changed her name so more people would be willing to adopt her. It can’t be coincidence that you two are so much alike and the metal her powers are most attracted to are that used on your bracelet,” Danna said.

“It’s a nice sentiment and it’s hopeful but I don’t think my sister is alive. I was hiding and she started crying and then there was a gunshot and then…. and then nothing,” Nova admitted.

Danna’s face fell. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have-”

“No it’s fine. At this point, there’s so much that I apparently don’t know about a crime that I witnessed that it was probably worth a shot.”

Danna gave her a gentle smile. “I’ll go tell the team we’re on good terms. See you at headquarters tomorrow to start the investigation.”

“Yeah well they think I’m sick so give it a day or two.”

“See you then I guess.”

Danna then opened up the window and turned into her swarm, disappearing into the night.

Nova shut the window and flopped back on the bed, deflating. It was like a weight had been taken off her back and she could finally breathe.

She really hoped things turned out alright.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danna tells Adrian some information about Nova and meets Narcissa.

Danna knocked on Adrian’s window. It was 1 in the morning and he was asleep but as she pulled on the window, she realized it wasn’t locked.

She slid in, shutting it behind her as she dropped onto Adrian’s bed and shook him awake.

“Hey,” Danna said, grabbing his arm and jostling him. “Get your ass up Adrian.”

He groaned and rubbed his eyes, looking annoyed with her. He put on his glasses and looked at the clock.

“Whatever it is you need to talk to me about, does it have to be at 1 in the morning?” He asked, laying back down in his bed and pulling the blanket over him tightly. She ripped it back.

“Yes this is important. It’s about your girlfriend. She’s on our side now,” Danna whispered.

He shot up, looking excited. “Really?”

She shook her head. “We’ve come to a deal. She helps us solve the case of Lady Indomitable and stops being Nightmare, we don’t tell a soul and if she wants we can leave her alone for the rest of her life.”

“Do you really think we can figure it out?” Adrian asked. “Who killed my mom I mean.”

“Well you have two people good at spying on your side now so I think we can. I mean we’ve figured more out on who’s Nightmare then anyone else. Or at least I did. You were too busy trying to fuck her to notice.”

“Danna!” Adrian hissed, blushing. “I’m not trying to-”

“Yeah yeah yeah I know. You’re a gentleman or whatever bullshit you have to tell me.”

“Like you didn’t flirt with her when she first joined either,” Adrian said, smiling and poking her. She punched his shoulder in retaliation. 

“Hey I backed up when I figured out you liked her like a good big sister,” she said, glaring and then sticking her tongue out.

Danna figured out easily that Adrian was head over heels for Nova once she saw them in a room together. She couldn’t say the same for Nova at first but she was hard to read and then all of the sudden her and Adrian were a couple, getting together a few months before the gala.

“So anything else you came to tell me?” Adrian asked.

“Yeah. Go talk to her tomorrow before I tell Ruby and Oscar. Then tell me what happened so I know how awkward this is about to be.”

“Okay I’ll go talk to her after shift tomorrow,” he said, taking off his glasses. “Now let me sleep please. You should go rest too.”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Danna said as she left to go back home, shutting the window before turning into her swarm and going back to the apartment she lived in. Her dad worked the night shift so usually there was a brief hour in the morning when he got home and before she left for headquarters that they saw each other.

She went and showered and got ready for bed in the bathroom and when she came back to her room, she saw a red-haired girl walking through the mirror.

Before she could go back in fully, Danna grabbed her arm and pulled her back, letting her stumble back and onto the bed. She looked pissed and then shocked that she had been caught.

Danna then realized that it was the mirror-walker Narcissa that Ruby had told her about. She was from the library fight and Gene Cronin’s granddaughter.

And if she was a gun dealer’s granddaughter, a gun dealer who was dead partially due to the Renegades, then she probably was not good news, no matter how gorgeous she was.

“What the hell are you doing in my room?” Danna snarled.

Narcissa seemed scared but squared her shoulders and lifted her head anyways.

“What the hell are you doing grabbing people when they try to leave?” She asked.

“I only grab people when they try to leave my room when they weren’t supposed to be here in the first place and I want to know why so why don’t you explain yourself.”

Narcissa scowled but complied.

“I saw you in Nova’s room and wanted to know why you’re helping her. She’s Nightmare. She’s the reason my grandfather is dead.”

“Ingrid killed your grandfather and Nova killed her so what do I have to do with anything?” Danna asked.

“You were with her and I had to make sure you weren’t part of that. Are we done here? Because I have what I want and I gave you what you want,” Narcissa said, standing. Danna took a few steps back to put some distance between them.

She wasn’t fully the shy bookworm that Danna had written her off as based on what Ruby had told her. The girl had more guts then she thought and she certainly was keeping her cards close to her chest.

Danna didn’t think she was telling the truth but it’s not like she could do much more. At least not without giving away Nova and ruining their whole plan.

“Listen, you can’t tell anyone that Nova is Nightmare. She didn’t kill your grandfather and instead killed the person who really killed them,” Danna insisted.

“Why do you care so much? She trapped you in a jar didn’t she?" 

"That’s none of your business but I can assure you that if you tell people Nova is Nightmare you’re getting yourself into far more trouble then it’s worth.”

“Fine. I won’t say. I don’t care for Nova but I don’t care for any of you all that much either and at least she’s not a Renegade.”

“What’s so wrong with the Renegades?” Danna asked.

All she had been told today was how bad the Renegades are. There was some weight to what Nova said but she didn’t know what problems Narcissa had with them other then general bias. Some reform was definitely needed but at the moment, it wasn’t the main task at hand and from what Danna could tell, the problems with the Renegades only impacted a select few.

“Because Renegades mess up everything and have forced prodigies into feeling like they have to be a Renegade or they’re worthless,” Narcissa snapped. “Maybe you don’t see it because you are one, but the rest of us who aren’t and show our powers are always told that we should be a Renegade. If we say no they look at us like we’re some sort of threat.”

“Well you are spying on me and breaking into my bedroom,” Danna pointed out.

“But I had a reason. You should see the way prodigies who aren’t Renegades are treated and looked at. The Renegades may be using their powers to be superheroes but they have done nothing to actually help prodigies other then the ones they deem useful.”

Danna thought back to how Nova told her about the way the Anarchists were treated. It was like they were sub-human and not allowed to exist. And at the trials those who weren’t accepted were laughed at and tossed aside. If they weren’t useful, then they didn’t matter to the Renegades and they certainly didn’t matter to the public.

She thought about how there were only prodigy doctors and how none of them could treat Max without him taking their powers. It made it so there were few people who could help him if he was sick or injured and if Nova hadn’t stepped in and been a shield for him, then he could’ve been dead. Danna didn’t trust Genissa or the lengths she would go to for what she wanted.

“Just get out of my room and leave me alone,” Danna said. “I just got out of being my swarm for a week straight.”

“Fine,” Narcissa said before walking into the mirror, the glass rippling before it solidified, like she was never there at all.

It was an impressive power and certainly a useful one. Danna wondered if maybe she shouldn’t have turned her away and asked her for help but she doubted Narcissa would agree. 

Or maybe Danna just wanted more time to talk to Narcissa as she was rather drawn to the girl. She was pretty sure she was developing a crush on a villain she just met and frankly, she needed to stop falling for criminal girls because they were hot.

That and she had too many things on her plate to be dealing with a crush as the moment.

All that she needed to focus on was the Lady Indomitable case and helping Nova. She had already figured out the passcode to all the restricted cases by sending her butterflies through the vents when she wasn’t able to reform. The problem was making sure that they could look at those files without being caught. It would be easy for Nova to do since she just did it at night when no one was at headquarters while she worked in the artifacts area. But Danna wasn’t sure if she could trust her completely to do that and if one of them did it with her it could be suspicious.

She knew Callum could read people like a magazine and would figure it out in minutes. He was a nice and very positive person but he was also incredibly intelligent and good at piecing together little information.

Or maybe, Nova could be a distraction while Danna snuck in using her butterflies. Even more so, if Danna could persuade Narcissa, she could get her to do it. Having Narcissa look at the case files would certainly take attention away from Danna and Nova and the team. Since she wasn’t a Renegade and her grandfather was a weapons dealer it wouldn’t be out of question for her to break into headquarters using a mirror and hack into the files. They could certainly assume she would know the password from listening in from mirrors and spying.

Danna cursed herself. She shouldn’t have told Narcissa off. She was far too useful if Danna could turn her into an ally.

But Danna hadn’t been thinking that far ahead. She was too pissed off that Narcissa was spying on her more then anything and she hadn’t thought her decisions through.

Cheeks burning, she grabbed a pen, paper, and some tape. She wrote down her number for Narcissa and taped it onto the mirror. At the very least, if she couldn’t turn Narcissa into an ally, then she could at least take her chance and ask her out. If she didn’t like her back then it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like Narcissa would have any other incentive to stick around.

Danna put the supplies away and then curled up into bed. So many things were going to be happening soon and she desperately needed some rest.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nova and Adrian talk about her being Nightmare and how she grew up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING FOR DISCUSSION OF ABUSE! TRIGGER WARNING FOR ABUSE!

The next morning, Nova didn’t show up at Headquarters, still calling in sick. Once his shift was over he went over to her house, saying that he was going to check in on her to see if she was feeling any better. But the reality was that he needed to talk to her about her being Nightmare.

He knocked on the door and she let him in, taking him up to her room where they sat on the rickety iron twin bed with a worn mattress that she had probably never even used. Nova was sitting on her knees, picking at the old comforter.

“We need to talk,” Adrian said.

“I figured,” Nova sighed. Danna must have given her a warning as she seemed very calm about everything.

“So you’re Nightmare.”

“Yeah,” she said, running a hand through her hair. “But even if you still hate me by the end of this, I just want you to know that my feelings for you were real. Are real.”

“I don’t hate you. Danna informed me ahead of time so I had time to process it all. I just want you to explain a few things to me.”

“Well what do you want to know?” Nova asked.

“Did they hurt you growing up?”

She seemed stunned that he asked that first. It only upset him more. He didn’t want her to have been hurt and it made it seem like no one ever had cared about her well being until she met Adrian and the others. But despite all, her safety should have been first and foremost.

Before you interviewed criminals they got medical assistance. Before people were put in prison they got medical assistance. Crime or not no one deserved to be treated as sub-human with their health disregarded.

“Emotionally or physically because I’m only now realizing the emotional damage,” Nova pointed out.

It wasn’t a response that made him feel any better about the situation and it certainly didn’t reassure him that the answers he’d be receiving would have any positive effects on him. But Adrian needed to know whether or not they hurt her growing up to see how deep all of this ran.

“Tell me about both,” he requested softly, squeezing her hand.

“Well I sort of now figured out that other 17 year old kids aren’t continuously guilt tripped by full grown adults with the death of their parents in order to get them to kill people,” Nova said. 

Adrian grimaced. It made things more clear and her actions more clear. He knew she had felt guilt over the death of her parents but she was a child. She still wasn’t an adult yet. Neither of them were. She shouldn’t have felt guilty about it and Adrian assumed she didn’t have much of an outlet to talk about it.

“And there were some other things but I found out recently that a group of adults trying to create a child soldier is apparently messed up which is something the Renegades certainly have a problem with too. In all fairness why the fuck are so many minors involved in all this stuff?”

“That’s….. that’s actually a fair point,” Adrian admitted. It didn’t make much sense that there were a lot of underaged people, including him and all his friends, involved in fighting crime.

“But besides all that…. I did get hurt a lot physically growing up. I mean it wasn’t intentional. It was from being trained but I still got hurt often even though no one could take me to a doctor or anything like that because we didn’t have money or food or anything and if we did the Renegades would take it away. The Anarchists shouldn’t have trained me as a child soldier and the Renegades shouldn’t have constantly taken away our bare essentials.”

Nova kept going and he listened the whole time. She had a lot of valid criticisms for both sides and the more Adrian thought about it, the more he understood her actions and that the Renegades really weren’t a great alternative to the Anarchists.

The Anarchists may have abused and manipulated Nova her entire life, but the Renegades allowed that and made the situation worse by depriving them of basic necessities. Adrian wasn’t sure if after Ace took her if they ever looked for what happened to Nova, but they certainly must have thought she was dead if they did and that wasn’t a mistake a government should have been making. They didn’t let the Anarchists have anything but the tunnels and when teams like Genissa’s came and destroyed all their resources. She didn’t know the Anarchists were bad because she was a child and raised by them and because she was trapped with them thanks to the Renegade’s policies, she had no one to tell her otherwise. If she did escape, not many people would help Ace Anarchy’s niece, even if she was just a child.

“Nova you have every right to be upset with everyone,” Adrian admitted. Every adult in her life had failed her and the systems put in place to protect vulnerable children only harmed her even more. She saw and experienced the flaws of both sides first hand and deserved to be angry about it. Her entire life had been ripped away and no one bothered to give it back.

“I didn’t even know that what I was doing was wrong,” Nova sniffled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “I mean my whole life all these bad things happened to me because of the Renegades and it just made me more eager to listen to the Anarchists because they were the only ones that bothered to take care of me. All I saw was that the Renegades were bad and needed to be gone but now I don’t think that the Anarchists are right either.”

“I see where you’re coming from. I mean I always thought that the Anarchists were terrible and the Renegades were great because I was raised by them but I understand what you mean by the fact that neither side is doing the right thing.”

“Yeah,” Nova said. “I mean at first I hated everyone and I hated you and I didn’t understand how you were one of them. You and the whole team and Callum too. All of you were so nice and sweet and caring and different compared to what I was told you were life and it made me question whether the Anarchists were actually right." 

"Well I don’t think the Renegades are right either. I mean I saw Genissa kill Hawthorne and then her team ransacked the tunnels because they could,” Adrian said. “I mean I saw the problems before which was why I became the Sentinel but it’s become more obvious as time has gone on.”

Her eyes widened. Adrian had forgotten that he hadn’t told her that and based off her hate for him, which he was understanding now because she was Nightmare, it was a large shock and she would need a moment to process it like he needed some time to process that she was Nightmare.

Nova did her best to hide it though. He could tell as he expression of surprise was gone in a split second but it remained in her eyes.

“I can’t even be mad at you for that,” Nova said. “I mean I’m Nightmare. It’s not like I’m much better in terms of secret identities. I honestly shouldn’t be surprised.”

He raised a brow. “What do you mean by that?”

“Of course you’re the Sentinel. Of course this is how it played out. You always want to do the right thing no matter what so of course you would break the rules to do so,” she laughed. “However, how did you get all those powers?”

“Tattoos.”

“Tattoos? Adrian, that’s genius. Show me!” Her praise was quickly overrun by her own horror. “Sweet rot I fucking shot you! Adrian I’m so sorry I didn’t know it was you.”

“Nova,” Adrian said gently, taking her hands in his. “It’s alright.”

She cupped his face.

“How?” She asked. “How are you so nice and kind and gentle to me after everything I’ve done to you.”

“Because whether you knew it or not, what you’ve done was more or less forced upon you.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m a good person.”

“Well you regret those choices and you don’t want to be an Anarchist any more so that’s a good start. I think you can make it to a point where everyone else will know you’re a good person too.”

“I still don’t get how you can believe in me so much.”

“It’s because I care about you Nova. And besides. What’s left to hide? You’re Nightmare. I’m the Sentinel. We’ve both gone after each other and hurt one another and somehow I still want to kiss you.”

“Really?” She asked, breath hitching while her eyes lit up.

“Really,” Adrian said. “Everyone has a nightmare. Maybe I want you to be mine.”

She snorted and then he kissed her.

This time, when they kissed, it felt so different then before. There were no more secrets and there was nothing stopping them. They could just be a boy and a girl who were dating and stealing kisses and cuddling and being normal. 

“Wait,” Nova breathed, pulling away. “Show me your tattoos." 

Adrian had a feeling that she either hadn’t guessed that they were on his chest or that she was well aware of where they were and didn’t care much at all about that.

It must have been the first option because when he peeled off his shirt to show her, she diverted her eyes with a faint blush rising up her neck and face.

Instead of noticing the tattoos first, she found the bandages around his middle, eyes filled with concern.

"Adrian what happened?” Nova asked softly, worried.

“Genissa,” Adrian explained. “Tried to keep her and her team from killing Hawthorne but got this instead.”

She frowned and then lifted up her own shirt, showing a healing patch of skin at her side to match his. It must have been from when Genissa threw the pike at her. It was mostly healed now and Adrian realized that she must have taken the Vitality Charm and used it that night which explained why it was missing and why Nightmare wasn’t stopped by Agent N.

“I guess that makes two of us,” she laughed before dropping the hem of her shirt.

“As smart as it was for you to take the vitality charm I’m going to need it back,” Adrian told her.

“I think I can manage that. I can give it back to you and you can act like you found it on the ground somewhere in your house,” she suggested. 

She reached out and traced over the lines of a tattoo on his bicep. 

“Do any of that tattoos allow for the tattoos to be hidden?” She asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Have you considered making a tattoo that makes you able to make your body look like you have no tattoos. They’re still there but… invisible. It could be helpful. If we need proof for some reason that you’re not the Sentinel or maybe if you get hurt or just don’t feel like having them visible,” Nova explained.

Adrian grinned. It was a brilliant idea. He’d have to figure out what tattoo would represent that, maybe a little ghost or something, but it was doable.

“Have I ever told you how incredibly genius you are?” Adrian asked.

“You could mention it a little more,” Nova said, grinning.

Her fingers were still running along the art on his body, following the curves and lines repeatedly like she was trying to memorize them. She then paused, her fingers spread out, and her hand slid up to the back of his neck.

She pushed herself up on her knees so she was eye level and then kissed him. Adrian wrapped his arms around her, holding her tighter and pulling her onto his lap, her legs falling to his sides.

“Hey Nova,” he muttered against her mouth. “You’re a genius.”

Her lips curved into a smile. She kissed him harder and he moaned softly. Adrian’s mouth slid down her neck and she gasped lightly, tilting her head back. He nipped at the hollow of her neck and very much enjoyed the whimper that came out of her mouth.

It seemed Nova was feeling even more daring then before as she pulled Adrian down on her. It took him by surprise but he wasn’t complaining.

He sunk into it and so did she, one of his hands buried in her hair and the other at her ribs. The feeling of their bare skin colliding, the heat of their bodies against another, and the softness of her lips were a good mix.

Nova brought his mouth back to hers, slipping her tongue in slowly which was another thing that surprised him but he wasn’t upset about. Her hands slid up his stomach and chest, up to his shoulders where one fell down to his bicep, holding it tightly, and the other reaching behind him to his back. Nova’s nails dug into his skin. It hurt but not enough to care though he had a feeling that there might be nail marks later as she was clutching him like he was the only thing in the world left.

Adrian then dared to move his hands, placing them on her thighs and sliding up so his fingers were under her shorts. He held her gently, drawing small circles on her skin while he told her words of affection.

He wanted to show her how much he cared about her, how precious she was to him, how happy she made him feel. But he wasn’t going to push. 

Over the course of their few months of dating, having gotten together after the fight at the Cosmopolis Park, they had definitely kissed a lot and not even when they kissed on his couch before the Gala compared to this. It might have had she not knocked him out, as he was now sure that’s why he fell asleep, but it was still different. There was far more physical connection happening then they had ever had and it was different emotionally. Everything was wholly unguarded. There were no more lies and secrets holding them back anymore. It was slow and gentle and sweet and not rushed like they were trying to make the most of a relationship they both thought was going to fall apart eventually.

Nova was quivering beneath him and while she was still kissing him and holding him, he couldn’t tell if she truly wanted this or not. Adrian contemplated if she was just trying to please him and go along with him kissing her because she didn’t know much else but doing what others wanted or if she was overwhelmed by her own decision, either by making it or the results.

Either way Adrian pulled away, settling at her side while she continued to lie down, tilting her head to face him. Nova looked disappointed that he pulled away but he could tell she was trying to hide it, almost as if she was ashamed of it.

“Are you okay? You’re shaking,” he pointed out. “We can stop if it’s too much for you.”

Adrian remembered her telling him at the Gala that if he did something that she didn’t like or didn’t want happening to her, she’d stop him. Still, he didn’t take her quaking body as a good sign and he didn’t want her to feel like she had to do anything with him for whatever reason she may have had.

“No it’s fine,” she breathed, smiling. “I’m just not used to so much physical contact in a positive way.”

His heart sank.

“Nova it’s perfectly alright to take your time with this and let yourself get used to smaller acts of physical affection before we move on to bigger things,” Adrian said, reaching out and pushing back a strand of her hair. “You’re always allowed to tell me no. I’m never going to be upset with you for it.”

“Okay,” she said, nodding and slipping her hand into his. 

She wasn’t shaking as much but she was still breathing heavily like she was overwhelmed. It would probably be some time before she was more comfortable getting physical but he was willing to wait. They had been together for a few months and were taking things slow anyways.

Nova was stunning laid out beside him, her hair splayed around her like a halo and her dark brown eyes shimmering in the dim light of the room. She was gorgeous just like she was when he ran into her at the parade, just like when she had kicked Gargoyle’s ass, and just like at the gala and every other day. He wasn’t sure if Nova was aware or not but a lot of Renegades their age had crushes on her, boys and girls alike. It was hard not to when she was beautiful, strong, and had put the Gargoyle in his place. Everyone liked her after that and part of him was thankful that Nova had needed him for whatever plot the Anarchists dragged her into or else someone might have beaten him to dating her.

Adrian leaned down and kissed her forehead before Nova pulled him back over top of her, this time resting her head on his shoulder. She had one of her hands in his hair and the other drawing circles on his spine.

“It’s weird,” Nova whispered. “I never liked the Renegades, and I still don’t like the Renegades now just to be clear, but you’re still a damn good superhero. You certainly helped save me after all.”

Adrian smiled. “All in a day’s work right?”

Nova snorted and then pressed a kiss to his neck, holding him tighter like he was safety, some sort of protector for her. He didn’t blame her for latching on.

Everyone in her life had failed to protect her, whether they tried to or not. The Anarchists certainly didn’t keep her safe after all they had put her through and neither had the Renegades as their mistakes had put her in the situation in the first place and made her stay there. 

Nova certainly could hold her own and when it came to fights she didn’t need protection. She could kick anyone’s ass including his but there were some things everyone needed protection for and for Nova that was the Anarchists and even the Renegades possibly.

Adrian wanted to protect her. And he was going to follow through with it. He was one of the first people in ten years to genuinely protect and care about Nova and he wasn’t going to mess it up. And that meant fixing the whole situation even if it would be incredibly difficult.

They still had yet to figure out how Nova was even supposed to leave the grasp of the Anarchists. It couldn’t have been that simple. It was down to just Queen Bee and Cyanide and as far as he recalled, they were the nicer Anarchists out of the ones that lived in the tunnels. That didn’t mean either of them were going to give up their hold and power over Nova anytime soon though.

Adrian just prayed that he could get her to a safe place and soon.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danna and Narcissa learn more about the other and start making a plan.

Danna was on her toes. The whole team was. They were all in a position of waiting. Ruby and Oscar wanted to know who Nightmare was but Danna wasn’t going to tell them until Adrian and Nova had worked things out between them. At least to a degree where it was bearable.

She didn’t think that they would necessarily be awkward or rude towards one another, as Nova still liked Adrian and Adrian was willing to take the time to understand what she had gone through, but she could see how this would make a large difference in their relationship and the way they were towards one another. She really wanted things to work out for them. Part of it was because she didn’t want her brother to get his heart broken. The other part was that she did not have the time or energy to deal with them being awkward and weird with one another while they tried to figure everything out.

Danna sat at her desk, reviewing all the information she had put together.

On April 26th, Nova’s parents and sister were shot and killed by an unknown gang member in the Kingsborough Apartment Complex. Renegades arrived too late and after the deaths. There was more information but the file was locked and Danna hadn’t been able to get into it yet.

On April 26th of the same year, Lady Indomitable leaves to patrol the northwest part of Gatlon where the Kingsborough Apartment Complex is located. She died of falling but it is unknown how since she could fly. By her was a card that said “One cannot be brave who has no fear,” and it was presumed an Anarchist killed her.

The third piece of evidence was that whenever Nova asked the Anarchists about Lady Indomitable’s death, they looked panicked and gave no information. Danna wasn’t sure if it was because an Anarchist killed her or because Lady Indomitable was on her way to help Nova’s family or both. Either way, they knew something but weren’t going to say because they knew it could upset Nova or take her from their side which made it important.

But until Danna could access those files she had nothing else to go on but the speculation that they were connected. 

She laid her head on her desk and groaned, paper and sticky-notes crinkling beneath her. It was enough to connect them but not enough to confirm anything. It was infuriatingly frustrating to Danna. 

A pale hand set down a sheet of paper by Danna’s head.

She bolted upright and saw it was just Narcissa. 

“Why’d you write down a number and stick it on the mirror?” She demanded, squinting at Danna quizzically. 

“I think you can help me,” Danna said.

“And why would I do that?” Narcissa asked.

“Well you dislike the Renegades right?”

“Yeah. What does that have to do with this?” She asked, pointing at the paper with Danna’s number on it.

“I’m starting to see your points and I think that with your help maybe some change could happen,” Danna said.

She had been thinking a lot about what Nova and Narcissa had told her. Both of them had very valid points against the Renegades though Danna didn’t think the Renegades should be dissolved completely. At face surface they were a good government with good intentions run by prodigies in a world where people still hated prodigies. However there were many flaws to the system that could be prey to the opposite of that and clearly had been used in that way. With the proper changes it could be better and more effective or a new government plan could be drawn up completely now that some stability had returned to Gatlon.

But there were more important things on the table at the moment. There were things they had to figure out before reform could be made. Danna had a few suspicions on who killed Lady Indomitable and she needed the system made by the Renegades in order to figure it out. And the answer to who killed her could help reform for all she knew.

“You have my attention,” Narcissa said.

“However you will have to work with Nova.”

Her mouth twitched and she looked a little sad for a second. “I know I said I don’t care for her but did she finally leave the Anarchists?”

“Pretty much. I’ll tell you more if you agree to help us and prove that you’re on our side,” Danna offered. 

Narcissa was useful and seemed to be loyal to Nova to a degree. She didn’t tell anyone that Nova was Nightmare and probably wouldn’t ever.

That didn’t mean she could be completely trusted.

“What exactly do I have to prove to you. I’ve known about Nova being Nightmare for ages. If I ever told any person of authority that I’d just be criminalizing myself most likely so why bother.”

Danna tilted her head. “But what do you have to gain?”

She wanted Narcissa on their side. She was not only very useful to their cause but also very pretty and in Danna’s mind that was worth just as much.

“Look I said I hated Nova but we used to be….” Narcissa trailed off as if she were looking for the right word, debating on what to say. “Close. And I’d like to see her get justice for her family. The Anarchists dragged her constantly with it and I’d like to see her get it on her own without them.”

That couldn’t be it. Danna actually hoped that wasn’t all it. The way she was acting over Nova, like she didn’t care but she really did, was familiar to Danna. She had been through it when she broke up with her first and only girlfriend. She tried not to care about her girlfriend but she did and Danna could tell that Narcissa was feeling the same way over Nova.

But clearly Nova had moved on though Narcissa didn’t seem so lucky. It must have been a brutal split between them if Narcissa was still hung up on it as Adrian and Nova had been together for a few months now. 

Danna wondered if they had been together and the Anarchists forced them apart.

She tried not to think too much about it. She didn’t doubt Nova’s loyalty to Adrian based on how worried she was about his reaction and it wasn’t her business anyways. The more she dug, she would probably only hurt herself. She liked Narcissa quite a lot but wasn’t about to fall for a girl still hung up on her ex.

It would be distracting too and Danna couldn’t be having that when working on a murder case.

“And what else do you want?” Danna asked.

Narcissa seemed to understand the subtle implications of that phrase and glared at her, pale cheeks turning as red as her hair.

“Reform. If we can figure this out then maybe people will see that the Renegades aren’t as good of a system as they seem and at the very least, some improvements can be made,” Narcissa said.

“I can work with that,” Danna said. “You want to help solve a ten year old murder case by helping me spy and break into things?”

Narcissa grinned.

“Isn’t that against your code?” She joked.

“Well it’s sort of like you said,” Danna said, smiling back. “Maybe it’s time to go against the system a little.”

“I’m all for that.”

Danna held her hand out to Narcissa.

“Friends?”

“Friends,” Narcissa agreed, taking Danna’s hand. “So what’s your grand plan?”

Danna looked at all the evidence she had collected. She needed to unlock the classified information on Nova’s family’s file in order to see if her suspicions were right. She suspected that Adrian’s mom may have been coming to help but got killed there along the way and of course that would be considered classified information. A woman is mysteriously killed on the way to help a family who are going to be murdered that night was either an insane coincidence or the perfect piece of a puzzle.

Adrian could probably figure out the access code on his own and if not then Danna and Narcissa would be doing some spying around Headquarters to figure it out. Or maybe Nova could see if Callum or Snapshot knew and get the answer from them.

Once they had the password then they would need to get into the file itself which Nova might end up doing alone at night in the archives, or to hide from suspicion and the cameras, Narcissa could do it on her own, or even cause some trouble so someone else could do it and get the information.

“How do you feel about spying and causing general chaos through mischief?” Danna asked.

“I’m already doing that now so I’m all for it.”

“Good because that’s pretty much what we’re all going to do and you have the benefit of not being a Renegade which allows for you to get away with a lot of things.”

Narcissa smirked but it didn’t last long. 

“Do you know where I can find Nova? I should probably talk to her before I see her again so things aren’t as weird,” Narcissa said sheepishly, rocking on her heels.

“Yeah. I’ll tell her you want to talk about something,” Danna said. “You just text me when you can so I have your number.”

Narcissa nodded, grabbed back the piece of paper with Danna’s number on it that was laying on her desk, and dissolved back through the mirror.

Danna wasn’t sure if she was more or less tense then before. She didn’t realize Nova’s relationship with Narcissa was going to be so complicated and there was so much more tension then she had anticipated.

Her wrist band went off. It was from Adrian.

Adrian: We worked it out.

Danna: Still dating?

Adrian: Yes.

Danna: Does she know you’re the Sentinel?

Adrian: Also yes. I showed her the tattoos?

Danna choked. She knew her brother was the Sentinel and she was never going to let it go that his dumbass had burned away 20 something of her butterflies, though she knew he was extremely regretful about it, but she didn’t know he had tattoos. That was something new.

Danna: WHEN DID YOU HAVE TATTOOS!

Adrian: How do you think I got the powers I used for the Sentinel.

Danna: You’re an idiot but you’re a genius. 

Adrian: I know. You tell me that like everyday.

Danna: It needs to be said. Tomorrow you guys can all come here and we can tell Ruby and Oscar about it.

She shut off the arm band and set it aside, trying to go to sleep. Running back and forth and playing messenger between so many people with such a high-stakes objective was exhausting.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nova and Adrian look for a place for her to stay.

Nova’s first objective was to find a safe place to stay before she bothered to even leave the Anarchists. The step after that was to get back the vitality charm and her personal items from the Anarchists without them knowing. The final step was leaving and cutting them off completely.

Nova sat on the iron bed of the row house next to Adrian as they scrolled through apartment listings on his laptop. She didn’t want something big. She just needed something small, somewhere safe that she could afford with the money she had stored away from working for the Renegades.

As long as you weren’t one of the juvenile’s who were part of their reform program for younger kids, then you got paid for your work and Nova had to create a bank account using her fake name and papers. But at this point she planned on using those forever and she didn’t have any other papers or signs like birth certificates or social security numbers that proved she existed.

“I just told Danna that everything is all good between us and we can tell Ruby and Oscar. She said tomorrow we can all go to her place and explain it to them,” Adrian said, looking up from his wrist band.

“That’s good. I hope Ruby and Oscar aren’t too pissed at me,” Nova said.

Adrian pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Don’t worry too much about it. Neither of them are one to hold a grudge and it’s not like you did anything super personal to them. They get the idea that your decisions weren’t entirely up to you.”

“Don’t push how much the Anarchists forced me into it. I mean I was definitely.. guilt tripped into it often but I took that and ran far with it. Not like they didn’t encourage me though.”

Nova didn’t want to not take credit for her actions. She had done terrible things and needed to own up to them. She wasn’t entirely proud of all her decisions but some like fucking up Frostbite’s team were worth it. However it didn’t mean all her decisions were good and didn’t need her to take credit for them in order to move on.

However, she did need to learn that it wasn’t all her fault. She hadn’t realized that the way she was raised, like a soldier made for one sole purpose that would make her worthless if she didn’t succeed, wasn’t the way other people were raised. It had most definitely fucked her up and it would be a lot of work to undo all the damage that the Anarchists caused.

If she could even escape them.

It was just Honey and Leroy and they were the ones she could negotiate most with. Leroy had given her the choice before and maybe he would let her have that choice again. And Honey could probably be persuaded if Nova took the right course of action. 

But if they wouldn’t let her go, then it didn’t really matter what happened anyways. She would have to tell them that people knew and would give her help if they didn’t let her leave and if they didn’t want that, then they would probably kill her.

And nothing really mattered much anyways if she was dead. It would probably devastate Adrian, but at least her being under the thumb of the Anarchists wouldn’t be an issue any more.

Unfortunately there was no way to escape that hold without telling them or else they would find her and keep coming back unless she told them she wanted out. It was the only way out.

Nova spotted an apartment on the website.

It was a small studio apartment by the Renegades Headquarters and not too far from Adrian’s place. That way she’d be close to Adrian and friends.

It also wasn’t too expensive and she could easily afford it with her salary and what she had stored away in her savings. 

If something was missing, like heat or electricity, then Nova could set that up herself. She did that in the tunnels and she knew how to survive with nothing after living in a train car with hardly anything but the clothes on her back for ten years.

Luckily all the basic amenities and even some furniture, such as a bed and little breakfast table, was included in the apartment though she was completely prepared to go without those things.

It wasn’t like what she was paid wouldn’t be enough to support her. A lot of adults worked for the Renegades and they all had to make a living and provide for their own families so of course she would have enough to get by.

“This one looks good,” Nova said, showing it to Adrian.

He leaned in closer, reading the listing. “That’s actually pretty close to Danna’s apartment too. I think she’s on that street but a different apartment complex. And the reviews are nice too.”

Nova hadn’t even looked at the reviews of the landlords and the apartment complex in general. Everyone left good reviews and said that the landlords, a couple with the names of Cleo and Estelle, were lovely ladies who were understanding and never raised rent. They allowed pets and were very lenient with the rules.

They seemed nice and all Nova had to do was send them an email and go see the place in person. After that there would probably be papers to sign and all that but it didn’t matter much when Nova was finally going to have a space of her own.

She could get rid of the Anarchists and shed the violence that she was involved with and the violence that surrounded her. She could be safe with no one hunting her down and she was free to do her own things. She wouldn’t have to worry about not being able to eat for a week or the power going out or someone dragging her away.

Nova, after ten long years, could finally have a home.

She hadn’t realized how badly she wanted it until now.

“Are you alright my star?” Adrian asked suddenly, squeezing her hand.

She cocked her head, confused at the name. She was sure he was talking to her as there was no one else aside from them but she didn’t know why he chose to call her that.

“What?”

“I asked if you were okay.”

“No I understand that and I’m relieved that I found a place but what did you call me?”

“I called you ‘my star’. Because of your name. I mean I just… never gave you a pet name or a nickname just for us or something like that and I hope it’s alright.”

He seemed embarrassed, offering her a sheepish smile as he rambled.

Nova cupped his face and pressed a kiss to his nose. She didn’t mind the name one bit and instead felt her heart swell with joy at it.

“I like it. Just please stick pet names and nicknames to when we’re in private.”

She could think of several reasons as to why pet names in public was a bad idea. The media was already obsessed enough with Renegades, especially him, and she didn’t need it on every tabloid to exist. She certainly didn’t need everyone at Headquarters talking about it and she didn’t want the team to start making fun of them either. It was all too big of a distraction at the moment and even if it wasn’t, she wanted something for herself for once. 

Nova had grown tired of other people always knowing her business and didn’t want anyone else sticking their nose in it when she was finally starting to have some semblance of privacy for once.

Adrian didn’t ask questions about her reasoning though.

“Whatever you want,” he assured her. 

It was a weird thing to hear; to have whatever she wanted. Nova had never had that either. She had thought she was getting what she wanted, revenge for her family, but it turned out she was wrong. She wanted to be happy instead and the Anarchists had shoved that false idea down her throat instead of letting her heal and recover, instead using her trauma to turn her into their pawn. She was entirely disposable though Nova supposed at this point, since it was just Honey and Leroy and such high stakes, they couldn’t really afford to get rid of her now.

That didn’t mean anything if she suddenly changed her mind. There was still a small chance they would try to kill her but there was no better person to fight them then the one they had trained to fight and Nova still had their trust. If she could just grab the vitality charm and conjure up a few lies, something she had been getting good at, then she would have everything she would need to run away and cut them off. 

Nova shoved the fear down. It would all be alright and at the very least Adrian and Danna had her back and would help her. She would finally be happy and have what she wanted. She would be free and could be with Adrian and live for once.

Nova found the email address under the listing and wrote them a message, asking to come view the apartment that night and hopefully sign a lease on it soon after.

“I’ll go over tonight to view and then once I do have a place ready for me to sign the lease, I’ll get what I need from the Anarchists and leave. The next day I can tell them the truth and cut them off,” Nova told Adrian.

He frowned. “Are you sure they’ll let you go?”

She shrugged. “Not entirely but I have a plan. They’re more understanding then any of the other Anarchists and they don’t have much choice but to let me go. Either that or they kill me but by the time that happens I should have the vitality charm on me to make me more immune to whatever they do.”

Adrian still didn’t like that idea.

“Let me come with. We’d stand a better chance.”

He looked so worried about her but Nova knew that she couldn’t take the risk.

“You can be backup,” Nova told him. “If something goes wrong I’ll call for you but if not then I’m not going to drag you into it and most likely make things worse. I may like you but they certainly don’t.”

He bit his lip, mulling over his options.

“Fine,” he agreed. “But at the first sign of trouble you yell for me and if you don’t come back up in fifteen minutes then I’m coming down to get you.”

“We can figure out strategy later,” Nova said. “Let’s just make sure I have a safe place to go until the time comes. I’ll tell you when and by then we’ll know exactly what to do.”

Adrian sighed, pressing his head against hers. “Just please don’t get hurt. I don’t want them to hurt you more then they already have.”

“I know Adrian,” she said reluctantly. “But don’t worry about me too much. Do you even know who you’re talking to? If anyone can handle this, it’s me.”

He laughed. “Well you did take down Gargoyle without anything but a banner and a toy canon.”

“And I also shot the Detonator, took down all of Frostbite’s team, and let’s not forget the many times I kicked the asses of our whole team as Nightmare with limited uses of my powers,” Nova listed off, cupping his face, their noses touching.

“Okay now you’re just bragging,” Adrian laughed.

“I have the right to be cocky and we both know it sinta,” Nova said, purposely calling him 'darling’ in Tagalog. In her household with her parents, English had been the only common language between her mom and dad though it wasn’t the first language of either of them. Her dad spoke Italian and her mom spoke Tagalog and she learned both though she had to read dictionaries in different languages and spend nights talking to herself in Italian and Tagalog to remember the languages until she was fluent.

Even now, she still practiced. Nova didn’t know anyone else that shared those languages and so she had no need to use them.

But if Adrian was giving her pet names then she wanted to give him one too and it gave her a change to use her parent’s original languages.

“Are you calling me a dumbass or sweetheart in another language?” Adrian asked.

“I’m calling you 'darling’ in Tagalog, one of the main languages of the Philippines and the language my mom used most with me,” Nova explained.

“Oh,” Adrian said softly, warmth seeping into her palms from his cheeks. “I didn’t know you knew any other languages.”

“Both my parents were immigrants so English wasn’t their first language. My dad spoke Italian and my mom spoke Tagalog but they spoke to one another in English and spoke to me in their first languages as much as they did English so I learned all three,” she told him. “Though I have had to spend a lot of nights practicing so I don’t forget because it’s not like there’s anyone to talk to in those languages.”

Adrian offered her a sympathetic smile. 

“I’m glad you finally get to speak in them though is that part of the reason you always mumbled a lot under your breath? Were you plotting or speaking in another language and trying to find the right word to say?”

Nova smiled sheepishly. “A decent amount of both." 

He laughed and then his band went off, beeping.

"Max wants me to come see him,” Adrian explained.

“Are you going to sneak into the hospital to go see him?” Nova asked, eyebrow raised.

Clearly, Max seemed to figure out that Adrian was the Sentinel and have given himself tattoos to give himself new powers, including on of the vitality charm over his heart which was helping heal the wound on his side.

“That’s the plan. You want to come and get a piece of the action?”

She shook her head. That would not work at all. She’d be a dead give away to what he was doing and she needed to get things in order to go check out the apartment and meet the landlords.

“Not now but I’ll text you after I see the apartment and I’ll tell you how it goes.”

“Okay,” Adrian said, giving her a quick kiss. “I’ll talk to you then.”

He took his things and left after that, leaving Nova feeling both giddy over what had happened and yet filled with dread of the future.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nova gets a new place to stay.

That night, Nova reached the apartment complex. It was on the corner of 10th and 56th street and on the 11th floor. She found apartment 36A quickly as there was a large sign on it that said for rent. The email response she had gotten from the landlords said to come to the apartment at 8 at night to view it so they would be there any moment, Nova having come a few minutes early.

“Are you here to view the apartment?” A woman asked, coming up to Nova. Her long, salt and pepper hair was swept back up in a bun and she had on circular glasses. Besides her was a woman a few inches shorter, her long box-braids swept up in a ponytail, a streak of grey here and there much like the other woman. Both of them couldn’t have been past their fifties, most likely in their mid-forties, and by the looks of their matching rings they must have been a couple.

Based on that, Nova assumed they were Cleo and Estelle, the landlords, and not looking at viewing the apartment for themselves. She assumed an older couple would already have a steady home by now and wouldn’t exactly be looking at having a small studio apartment. They’d probably be looking for an apartment with more space that would most likely host children and possibly even grandchildren.

“Umm yeah I was told by the landlords to come by at 8,” Nova said, rocking on her toes.

“Oh you must be Miss McLain then. I’m Estelle and this is my wife Cleo. We’re the landlords,” the shorter woman said.

“You look a little young to be looking for your own apartment,” Cleo said, giving Nova a look more filled with concern then worry or caution that she would have anticipated.

“Yeah I’m not quite 18 yet but I just needed my own place because of my home life,” she said, stuttering. She was nervous and while she didn’t want to have to come right out of the gate and say she was running from an abusive home, she also didn’t want to risk being turned away for being too young and she certainly didn’t want to have to keep lying anymore.

Both of them shared a look with each other that bordered fear. Nova wasn’t sure if it was them being scared of her or scared for her.

“Well take a look around the apartment and if you like it then it’s yours. You can keep all the furniture and you won’t even have to pay rent. Just take it,” Estelle said, shrugging.

“What?” Nova asked. “I can just have it?”

“Of course you can. You’re a kid.”

“But I can pay rent. I have money. I have a job,” Nova insisted.

“You focus on yourself sweetie,” Cleo insisted. “Just look around and tell us what you think. If you want it then we can help you sign the lease and figure out all the legal stuff since I assume you’ve never done this before.”

“You’re not- you’re not worried that I’m going to cause trouble or anything like that?” Nova asked. Most people who saw a kid run away would see trouble, even if it was from a bad home life. You never knew if abusive people were going to come back and track them down and that would wreck all sorts of havoc, especially with prodigy abilities.

“Of course not. You’re a kid. We hope you stay out of trouble and that trouble doesn’t find you but if you need a home then you can have a home,” Estelle said. “Now go take a look around inside.”

“Okay,” Nova said shakily, nodding before turning and stepping into the apartment. 

She was in one main room, split up by a wall that didn’t even go across the entire room and instead made a hall of sorts. On one side, close to the entrance, was a small dining table along with a coat rack. As she moved down the little hall and to the other side of the wall, she noticed the kitchen.

The back splash was checkered pink and white tile and the cabinets looked old with all bulky, white appliances and white cheap countertops. It made a U-shape and Nova’s boots clacked against the aged tile floors. However, despite all those things, she actually liked it. The massive windows that overlooked the city probably helped that. It would be a good distraction for her at night and would let in some sun in the daytime, even through the white blinds.

Nova moved onwards to the end of the hall. In front of her and at both her sides was a door. The one on the right led to a little closet. The one on the right led to the bathroom which was a pretty good size and in good condition.

There was a shower and tub combination with a sliding glass door along with a sink placed in front of a long counter though she wasn’t sure what she’d need all that space for. She’d probably use all the cabinets to store things like towels and maybe a space hair brush or toiletries for if any of her friends crashed the night.

If she had her own place, a place that was going to be safe for her for the very first time in her life, then she wasn’t going to close her doors to any of her friends if they needed it. That and even if she didn’t exactly sleep, the idea of a sleepover was enticing and she could see herself trying to watch the group attempt to pull an all-nighter to keep up with her.

She then went through the final door. It led to the bedroom that already had a queen size bed frame, though no mattress, and a bright pink couch pressed up against the end of it. On either side of the bed frame was a little table and across the room from the couch was a TV on a little table.

Against one wall, across from the entrance a bit past the couch, was a dresser with a mirror above it and across from that was a desk. Next to the desk was one last door that Nova opened to find a washer and dryer combo stacked upon one another along with some shelves and a laundry basket, a full body mirror on the inside of the one door.

The apartment was sparsely furnished but she could work with it and it was plenty of space for her and there were nice tiles in the bathroom and nice hardwood floors in the bedroom which meant she could buy a broom and not a vacuum.

Nova then went through the apartment and turned on all the lights and all the water to make sure everything was in working order. She could easily fix it as she had grown used to fixing things like plumbing and electricity all the time for the Anarchists but she wanted to know just how much she should prepare herself for.

Nova came back to Cleo and Estelle who were waiting patiently at the door.

“I like it,” Nova said brightly.

It truly was a good apartment. She didn’t really care much about the style but it had the perfect amount of space and the electricity and plumbing was in good order. That and the views were great and she could easily fit all her friends in the bedroom and living room space.

“Good. You can have it,” Estelle told her.

“Thank you,” Nova said sheepishly. “I can always pay rent if need be.”

Cleo laughed. “It’s no problem. Everyone needs housing and while I’m not trying to pry, you mentioned needing your own place because of home life so if you need therapy, here’s my card.”

She pulled out a little business card from her jean pockets and placed it in Nova’s hand. On the cardstock in black print was a phone number and email address along with her name, Cleo Johnson-Mao. Nova figured that the last name was a joint one between them.

“I know there’s no actual mattress but do you need to stay here for the night? You can move in right now if you want,” Estelle told her.

“Oh no I can wait a few days. I sort of have to tell my guardian that I’m leaving or else they’ll come looking for me and act like I ran away and cause a bunch of more problems. My friend is going to come with me to help me get my things and get out,” Nova explained, keeping details as minimal as possible.

“Are you sure they won’t come after you?” Cleo asked. “Controlling guardians can go to far lengths for that control. If you give us their name and photo we can make sure they don’t enter the building.”

“Oh no trust me. That won’t be an issue,” Nova guaranteed. 

As long as she managed to leave the Anarchists hold, they would have no choice but to leave her alone or risk incriminating themselves. Even at night in the shadows, anywhere that wasn’t the tunnels or wherever they were staying would have cameras and they could easily be caught. It was just Honey and Leroy and they weren’t going to risk that. Especially Honey. She could never live without having all her fancy clothes and makeup.

Cleo and Estelle both frowned.

“Well stay safe and if you need anything don’t hesitate to ask,” Estelle told her. “Send us an email of when you intend to move in so we can bring you the paperwork and the keys.

"Thank you. I can actually bring my things from where I am right now. My guardian is on a business trip right now so it shouldn’t be hard to get my things and bring them over,” Nova said.

She knew that the Anarchists weren’t going to come back to the house at the risk of being caught and Nova already had what she needed in her room at the rowhouse. She had sorted out anything incriminating, like specific weaponry that would identify her as Nightmare, and kept everything else she could. 

“Well then go get it and when you come back we’ll have the paperwork and keys for you,” Cleo said.

Nova smiled again and started to walk down the hall so she could go get her things.

“Thank you so much!”

Truthfully she was giddy about having her own place. And relieved. She could finally have a place that was safe for her. She could finally have a place that was just for her and no one who was going to hurt her or harm her was going to barge in and invade it. No one was ever going to make her do anything she didn’t want to or something terrible ever again.

Nova could finally have a home and the feeling made happiness explode through her. Having a home, a real home, had never been a thought she had. It was always something that would never have been attainable before. But now it was right in a finger’s reach.

Nova didn’t fully trust Estelle and Cleo but she didn’t think they were tricking her at all in any way. It’s not like they had a real reason to do so but she did appreciate them seeing that she was in need and giving her assistance without hesitation or questions.

Nova made her way back to the rowhouse and found the duffel bag in the closet with all the things she was keeping. It was a mix of clothes, some inventions, her tools, and some food like granola bars and a water bottle to hold her off though since she had grown up with food being scarce, both with her parents due to the Anarchy and due to bad living conditions from the Anarchists, she had grown used to being hungry and could go for a few days without eating. It wasn’t a skill she necessarily liked to have or wanted to show anyone she had but she would admit, it could be useful sometimes and she always adapted eventually.

However Nova planned on never telling Adrian about this. She knew he would cry and be upset over it and possibly even blame himself for ever having let her go hungry while she was a Renegade. When she ate at his house after she had spent the night had been the first time she had ever had an actual meal in a while. Once her cuteness wore off she couldn’t just go into diners and get free food.

Nova came back to the apartment complex in under a half hour and they seemed surprised by her speed but gave her the keys and she read through the lease. It was a one year application and she read through all the rules and there weren’t any she would break or really wanted to either. She had no real need to repaint or anything like that.

“And of course some of these rules like the time frame or the down payment won’t apply to you,” Estelle reassured.

Nova nodded and smiled. “I can’t thank you enough for this. Truly.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Cleo said, then sweeping up the papers they needed to keep. “Just tell us if anything changes.”

Nova nodded and smiled, watching as they left. 

And for the first time in forever, Nova was able to lock her door. She was able to have a space for herself that no one could come into. It was just for her.

She went and grabbed her armband so she could tell Adrian.

Nova: It worked out. I’ve got the place.

Adrian: That’s great

Nova: Yeah just stop by tomorrow and we can talk more about the plans to deal with my uncle.

The two of them still had no solid plan on exactly how she was going to cut off the Anarchists. As long as she was able to go to the tunnels and get out alive she would be satisfied. Even if she wasn’t able to get the Vitality Charm, she’d be alright with how things went. She’d rather her life and safety over the charm and she was sure Adrian would agree.

Nova got another message from Adrian.

Adrian: I’ll come by an hour before patrol because after Danna wants us to go to her place so we can explain everything to Ruby and Oscar.

Nova: That’s fine. I hope they won’t be too angry or upset with me.

Adrian: Neither of them are good at holding grudges and I’m sure they’ll understand. Don’t worry about it too much.

Nova sighed with relief. She hadn’t realized it but she did want Ruby and Oscar to like her. She even wanted the chance to really be friends with the,

Nova: Okay. See you tomorrow then. Night.

Adrian: Night

She turned off the armband and looked through her bad for the charger for it before plugging it in. She then went and unpacked the rest of her things. She didn’t exactly have much.

Nova tossed the granola bars and non-perishable food she had into a cabinet in the kitchen and put her toothbrush and toothpaste as well as the other toiletries she had into the bathroom. She then dumped what clothes she had into the drawers and emptied out all the tools and inventions from her bag.

She only bothered to organize all her inventions and tools, putting them away neatly in the drawers and putting her few blueprints away in the closet. Her inventions went in there too if she couldn’t fit them neatly on the test. She put the gears and wires and all of the building pieces and parts in a random container she found in the closet and placed it under the desk. She would have to go out and buy some organizers for it later. In fact Nova would have to go shopping later for several things and necessities and definitely more food.

Nova had a lot of work ahead of her and a lot of things on her plate but she was sure she would get where she needed to be eventually.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrian visits Nova at her apartment as they come up with a plan to help her leave the Anarchists.

When Adrian got up the next morning his dads had already left for work. It was usually like this on weekdays.

He got up and got ready for the day before grabbing his things and leaving. He was going to see Nova at her apartment like he had promised but on the way there he stopped to pick up bagels for breakfast, since he wasn’t sure if she really had any food at her place yet. He just got a big bag of some different bagels along with a container of cream cheese. He wasn’t sure exactly what her order would be as this wasn’t something that had ever come up before. He wondered if she had ever even had bagels when she was with the Anarchists.

However what Adrian did know was Nova’s favorite type of flower. Or at least one that he knew for a fact she liked because he remembered her mentioning that her dad would bring her mom home dahlias when he could and if not then wild flowers.

So Adrian picked up a mix of those on his way to the apartment complex. He had drawn some the first time he went over to her place so it only made sense that he brought her more as a housewarming gift for her new apartment.

Or as a gift in general.

Adrian reached her apartment complex and went inside, racking his mind for the apartment number.

Before he could think of it, a short middle aged woman with box braids came up to him.

“Are you lost young man? Or waiting for someone?” She asked, noting the food and flowers.

“Yeah I’m just trying to think of the apartment number of my girlfriend. She just moved in last night and I figured I’d bring her a house warming gift.”

The woman smiled.

“Then it’s a good thing you’ve run into me. I’m the landlord Estelle. I’m assuming you’re looking for Nova McLain,” she said, smiling brightly at him.

“Yeah that’s her. Can you tell me where her apartment is?” Adrian asked.

“11th floor. 36A,” she said, knowing it off the top of her head.

“Thank you so much,” he said, going to the elevator and pressing the button.

“My pleasure. Tell Nova I said hi.”

“I will,” he said as the door closed and the elevator went upwards.

After that he found her apartment quickly, knocking on the door. She opened it right away and seemed very giddy and he couldn’t help but feel happy too.

Nova shut the door behind him as he set the food and flowers on the small table. 

“Morning my star,” he told her, cupping her face and giving her a quick kiss as a hello.

“Good morning,” she said, practically bouncing on her toes.

“Estelle says hi. She helped me find your apartment,” Adrian told her, keeping true to his word.

“Oh yeah she’s my landlord. Her and her wife Cleo seem really nice. I mean it took them five minutes to realize that I was running away from a bad home life and they just let me have the apartment and offered me assistance in making sure no one comes and tries to drag me back,” Nova told him.

It was surprising but he was glad it happened. Adrian was glad to know that someone besides himself was looking after her and maybe she could have an actual adult in her life who cared about her and would help her out. Nova was fairly independent but still just a teenager. Adrian certainly still needed his dads and he didn’t think Nova would be any different in needing a parental figure.

“That’s great,” Adrian said. “I’m glad things are working out for you.”

“I mean I can still pay rent if need be but it was a small relief and at least now I can put that money more towards necessities and things I need. But I do really like the new apartment.”

The apartment was a pretty decent place and even if it wasn’t he didn’t think Nova would necessarily care. She’d probably lived in worse and could fix any issues with a bad apartment on her own.

He shuddered at the thought. He hated the idea of her living in the tunnels and even the rowhouse. He never wanted to judge but he couldn’t have helped but be concerned for her conditions.

Of course Nova now actually had the chance to live somewhere that was not only safe from dangerous people but safe in the sense that you could actually live there and it was up to code. Adrian didn’t exactly think she would miss out on that. He didn’t think any sensible person would.

“Speaking of that,” Adrian said, grabbing the flowers. “I figured I’d bring you a house warming gift. And some breakfast too if you’re hungry for bagels.”

Nova smiled and took the flowers from him.

Great skies he adored her smile. It was the most beautiful thing in the world aside from Nova herself.

“Thank you,” she said brightly. “I’m sorry I don’t have anything to put them in. Or plates and things for food. Or really much of anything. I guess I have to go shopping.”

“Anything you need now? I can just draw it.”

“Adrian it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I can take care of it myself,” Nova insisted.

Adrian frowned. 

“You’re sure?”

Nova nodded. “It’s fine. I can take care of it. Though maybe drawing some plates or something would be a good idea.”

She gestured to the food and Adrian pulled out his marker, drawing on the paper bag to make paper plates for the two of them. He hadn’t eaten yet and he didn’t think Nova had either.

“Have you ever had bagels before?” Adrian asked, pausing as he took one out and took a seat at the table with Nova. He cut it with the plastic knife that was in the bag. 

“When I was little and my parents were still around,” Nova said as she put cream cheese on the one she had taken from the bag. 

“So are there other common foods you haven’t had since then?”

“A lot. And a bunch I’ve never had before because it’s not like there was much access to them for people in the Age of Anarchy,” Nova said before taking a bite, shrugging.

It was such a weird thought to think that there were a lot of super common foods in Gatlon that she hadn’t had before. Adrian would have to figure out what exactly they were and he had no doubt that when Oscar and Ruby realized this they’d have a field day.

“So when exactly are you going to see the Anarchists again to get the Vitality Charm?” Adrian asked once they were finished, Nova rolling up the beg and putting it on the counter and throwing the cream cheese in the fridge. He doubted that there was anything else in there.

“I figured later today would be a smart time. I want to do it as fast as possible when it’s darker out so it’s not really noticed. They moved back to the subway tunnels but to a different section,” Nova explained. “The Vitality Charm, the helmet, and anything that would incriminate me of anything are all there with them but all I have to do is act like I need to get something, take the charm, and then tell them that I’m leaving.”

“Do you think they’ll let you leave?” Adrian asked. He didn’t want to risk her being hurt by them again. He could only imagine how much they had already put her through and he didn’t want her to have to go through any more.

Nova sighed. “Honey and Leroy were usually the more lenient ones. Leroy was always the one that stopped my training when he saw it was going too far or becoming too dangerous and Honey was usually more on the nice side.”

“Define nice.”

“Okay nice for an Anarchist. As nice as you think an Anarchist can get,” Nova explained.

He understood what she meant but that still left a lot of room for personal interpretation. How bad an Anarchist could me and how good they could be was a very large spectrum but at the core, Anarchists were willing to do basically anything to get whatever they wanted.

It’s why Adrian didn’t think Nova was an Anarchist at all. He knew she had limits and he knew she felt guilty about a lot of things she had done. That and he didn’t think an Anarchist would bother to go out of their way to save a kid that could be used as a divergence of attention from then the way Nova had pushed Max out of the way and stayed to help him. The pike had been aimed at her and Max was invisible but she still reached out just in case he was there and found him and pulled him out of the way with her. Max still got brushed by it at his side and was in the hospital but he would live instead of being impaled and possibly even killed.

Any other Anarchist Adrian knew wouldn’t do that. From what he could figure out, they probably subjected Nova to a lot to train her as an Anarchist and he had heard rumors of them killing an entire gang just to get to one child and take them as their own. At least he had heard his dads talking about that once late one night when he was little so he figured it held true.

Nova didn’t seem like she would ever do something like that at all.

But it didn’t mean the remaining Anarchists didn’t. He trusted Nova and her judgement and she had the best guess on how this was going to pan out but Adrian couldn’t help but be concerned. People, especially Anarchists, could be unpredictable and take large gambles with no warning or hesitation.

And Nova leaving would certainly prompt them to take action and act unpredictably. 

“So how do you think they’ll react?” Adrian asked. “To you asking to leave at least.”

“I don’t think they’re going to be happy that’s for sure. I can definitely see Honey going into one of her fits but Leroy had offered me a chance to leave before. Right before I became a spy for them he asked me if I wanted to leave and I didn’t know any better then to take that chance but if he was willing to put everything on the line to give it to me then, and now that there’s way less risk for him, I think he’d still offer that to me and let me leave. It’s more of Honey we have to watch out for,” Nova elaborated, looking upset at her own words.

She felt guilty. Adrian could see it in her eyes. She probably regretted not taking up that offer to leave and start fresh when she had the chance, before all her crimes had piled up so much. Before anyone could have ever suspected her to be Nightmare at all. Before anyone even knew she existed and she hadn’t caused as much hurt.

Adrian reached out and squeezed her hand.

“It’s okay,” he reassured.

“But anyways it should be fairly easy for me to get the charm. It’s leaving that will be the problem. I don’t think Leroy will hurt me but I can’t guarantee that Honey won’t try something or force me to stay to talk me out of my decision.”

“So what do you need me to do?” Adrian asked.

“You can stand by on guard by the entrance but hidden away so no one gets suspicious. It shouldn’t take more then 15 minutes and if I’m not out by then or something goes wrong I’ll call for you for help. I don’t think I’ll die if I have the vitality charm on me at that point but that’s not to say injuries won’t be sustained,” Nova informed him. “But unless I call for you do NOT come and get me or they will think that you did something and they will see you as a threat and I don’t want you getting hurt. If you get hurt then everything will go to shit and worst of all, you’ll be hurt.”

“If you’re not out in 15 minutes I’m coming in to get you,” Adrian told her. He wasn’t going to risk losing her.

“Well what if they moved the charm and I have to look for it and things get screwed up?” Nova pointed out. It seemed she had every possibility going through her mind.

“You can send me a message on the arm band telling me that,” Adrian pointed out.

“No because I won’t be wearing it so we can’t be tracked,” Nova fired back.

“Then I’ll draw us some communication device. I don’t want to risk them keeping you from calling for me for help and hurting you in the process when I could be there to help.”

“Adrian I get you’re concerned but I’m perfectly capable of handling them. Of all the people that could actually stand on their own against them it would be me because I was raised by them.”

“I don’t want to take any chances,” Adrian pleaded. He wasn’t going to let her go through it alone. For once, someone had to step it up and actually look out for her. Just because she never had it before didn’t mean she could go without it now.

“Sinta,” she said softly. “I know you’re just trying to keep me safe but I promise that as long as you’re at least there and waiting for back up I’ll be okay.”

“Fine,” Adrian agreed. “But you message me when you’re going to tell them and at the first sign of trouble I’m coming to get you.”

“Deal,” Nova said. “We can go around 9. It’ll be dark but not late enough that your dads will want you home and it’ll give us time to sort ourselves out if something does happen.”

“Okay,” he said, reaching out and cupping her face in his hands, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head. “Just be safe.”

“I know,” she said softly, smiling a little. “I will be.”

An alarm on Adrian’s band went off. He turned it off and stood up, offering his hand to Nova who gladly took it.

“Come on. Lets go to patrol,” he said, nodding at the door.

She smiled and stood, the two of them leaving her apartment hand in hand. 

On their way out they passed Estelle and who he assumed was Cleo, both of them waving goodbye to her as they left, very much noticing that she and Adrian were holding hands. Nova rolled her eyes but he was smiling, finding it endearing and funny. The two of them seemed to really like and care about Nova and he was glad that she had more people in her life as more positive role models.

Things were going well for once and Adrian just hoped that continued for the rest of the day.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team as a group meeting to go over what they know and what they should do.

After patrol was over, Danna found herself standing in the middle of her room with the team surrounding her. Ruby was spinning in the chair at her desk and Nova and Adrian were leaning against each other on the bed with Oscar laying across their laps. Neither of them really seemed to mind him and Ruby was too busy laughing her head off to notice anything else.

“Stop that,” Danna said, grabbing the chair to hold it still.

Ruby yelped as she fell off of it and hit the floor. 

“You could have asked,” Ruby said, glaring.

“I did but then made an executive decision. Now come on. This is important. I’m going to tell you who Nightmare is.”

“Oh finally,” Oscar said. “Nova you’ve missed a lot. Danna figured it out after she got stuck in swarm mode.”

Danna tried to hide her laughter and she could tell by the way Nova and Adrian’s mouths twitched that they wanted to smile and laugh at the irony too.

“I’m aware,” Nova said calmly, her face going back to it’s blank state in less then a second. Danna still did not know how she was able to do that and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know.

Danna continued. 

“Anyways-”

“Wait. Drumroll,” Ruby said, getting back in the chair and tapping her hands on the desk.

Danna sighed. She loved Ruby and she loved how they saw the best in situations but she wasn’t sure why this had to be one of those.

“This is serious Ruby,” Danna said.

“Exactly,” Oscar said. “I don’t think we’re ever going to have a dramatic identity reveal again so we might as well make the most of it.”

“Fine. Fine. Do the drumroll then,” Danna said, defeated. Adrian was trying not to laugh and so was Nova. 

“Yay!” Ruby said, pounding faster on the desk with her hands.

“Anyways Nightmare is Nova,” Danna said, pointing to her.

“Oh that wasn’t as dramatic as it could’ve- wait its Nova!” Oscar sputtered. He sat up and looked up at her. 

“Like our Nova,” Ruby asked, looking at her in shock from across the room.

“What other Nova do you know that we would be referring to?” Nova asked. “So yeah it’s me. I honestly can’t believe that you’re surprised. I did a terrible job at hiding that I was Nightmare. It was so obvious how did you guys miss it?”

“Well I didn’t want to think badly of you because you’re my team mate,” Ruby said, both her and Oscar gaping at her.

“A terrible decision,” Nova deadpanned.

“Sorry I was trying to be nice,” Ruby said, rolling her eyes. If she was upset she wasn’t showing it. Danna figured that telling them that Nova wasn’t exactly making all of her decisions by choice was also making them far less upset with her.

“This is a much better reaction than I anticipated,” Nova said, just as surprised as Danna.

“Now that I think about it, I really shouldn’t be surprised,” Oscar admitted. “But are you okay? I mean either you were forced into this or raised by the Anarchists and both those things sound like terrible things.”

Nova shrugged, her face falling blank again. Danna didn’t think she’d be letting them see any emotions from her anytime soon.

“This is very impressive though,” Ruby said. “Like it’s absolutely terrifying all the things you are capable of but it’s impressive.”

“Thanks,” Nova laughed.

“So now what?” Ruby asked. 

“Now we’ve got to figure out who killed my mom,” Adrian said.

“I’m placing my bets on either Evander or an Anarchists,” Nova said.

“I see why you would think an Anarchist but why Evander? I mean I don’t really like him but why him?” Adrian asked.

“I don’t trust him. I know I’m usually skeptical of a lot of people but there’s something off about him. That and it makes sense to me. I don’t have a motive on hand but it would be the most shocking which is why no one would ever question him. It would explain why no one has ever figured it out. No one would be suspicious of him,” Nova pointed out. “Honestly I lean more towards him killing her then an Anarchist.”

“Why a Council Member and not an Anarchist?” Danna asked. “I’m not going to doubt your expertise on murder but it doesn’t make much sense.”

Danna never really trusted Evander either but she didn’t understand why a Council Member would kill another Council Member. There was no logical motive. There was nothing that they would gain from it.

“Because I’ve asked the Anarchists about it before and they get a little fidgety like they know something but I’ve also asked Ingrid and she said she had no clue. Suspecting them because of the card being there makes sense but they would have taken claim to it. The card could have just as easily been placed there to throw people off and frankly when I lived in the Cathedral when all the Anarchists were still around, there was not a single word about it and I don’t recall any of them carrying around little cards with Anarchist slogans on them,” Nova explained.

“But what would a Council Member have to gain from it?” Adrian asked, posing the question that was probably on all their minds.

“Maybe a reason to really start fighting with the Anarchists. A way to justify it at least so things could keep escalating and to paint themselves in a better light. I don’t really know why and I’m not trying to defend the Anarchists either, for all I know they could be the reason why my parents are dead, but it makes as little sense to me as it makes as little sense to you as why a Council Member would do it. If these are connected then it makes even less sense as to why I wouldn’t know who did it because that meant by placing that card there Ace would have asked around until he found out who did it and would have told me.”

“Why would Ace Anarchy have told you?” Oscar asked.

“Because he’s my uncle and I don’t exactly think he’d be too happy with someone involved in it, even if it wasn’t intentional. He found out which gang sent the hitman that killed my parents and literally had all of them killed in one night,” Nova explained.

“You’re his niece!” Ruby exclaimed.

“How do you think I ended up with the Anarchists in the first place?” Nova asked. “McLain isn’t even my actual last name, it’s Artino.”

Ruby and Oscar continued to ask questions while Danna tried to see Nova’s point. She already knew that she was Ace’s niece. 

And if anyone knew the Anarchists, it would be her of all people. Of course the people who knew, if they were Anarchists, could very well have died in the Battle of Gatlon or never said a thing to avoid prosecution for it, but they must have told Nova if they did know. If an Anarchist did in fact kill Lady Indomitable, she must have found out at some point. Surely they would have let Ace know and he probably would have told her.

Unless of course there was some outer reason to keep it contained. Danna didn’t want to say it and she didn’t want to burden Nova with the idea, but Lady Indomitable and her parents died on the same night in the same area and it was very much possible that if an Anarchist stopped her and killed her, it could have resulted in the deaths of Nova’s family. Danna figured at the very least, Nova would not take kindly to the Anarchists and side with the Renegades if that happened or an Anarchist might not have said a word unless they wanted to face Ace’s wrath.

That was the exact point Nova was making.

But of course the question of the note card still remained. Why place that only to not take credit?

And more importantly if that was there then why did Nova know nothing about Ace arguing with another Anarchist and killing that person when she knew that he took out an entire gang in one night for sending the hitman?

“We can look into it. I mean we’re basically going to be playing spy and breaking into the Artifacts to get the information we need from the file on you,” Danna said.

“Finally we’re doing something I’m used to and am good at,” Nova said.

“Of course this is what you’re excited about,” Adrian said. 

“What else were any of you really expecting?”

“That you don’t like causing mayhem and are a Renegade?” Oscar asked. 

“I’m not an Anarchist but do not call me a Renegade,” Nova said, glaring at him. “I still think all of this sucks. I just think that if a group of teenagers can solve a ten year cold case of one of the most well known murder cases then maybe the Renegades aren’t all they say they are and trust me when I say that I have a lot more issues regardless of my relationship to the Anarchists or not.”

“What else could you possibly have against them other then what the Anarchists told you?” Ruby asked.

“I’ll make a list for you all later tonight. How’s that?” Nova fired.

“We’re getting off topic,” Adrian pointed out. It wasn’t like there was exactly tension but he wasn’t wrong to want to divert the conversation either way.

“So pretty much the goal is to figure out the passcode for the restricted files that are on the logging computers in the Archives and then we pretty much have to break into the Archives so we don’t get caught,” Danna said. “So Nova that’s where your expertise comes in.”

“I get to play Nightmare again and wreak havoc?” Nova asked, eyebrows raised as she leaned against the wall.

“Not necessarily. It might just be more of you having to make some invention to help out with spying or distract Callum and Tina in the Archives while we slip in. Maybe act like you’re helping us check something out or do research.”

Danna still planned on having Narcissa help out. She just had to tell Nova first because she assessed that there was some sort of tension between them that she didn’t want to just throw at everyone. She didn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable and she didn’t want Narcissa bailing on them because of it.

However she didn’t want to put Nova back into being Nightmare either if it could be avoided. She figured Nova was ready to leave it behind and while she was probably perfectly capable of jumping back into it, Danna assumed that there must be some bad memories connecting to it.

“Good because after tonight I won’t have access to that anymore. I’m grabbing the vitality charm and leaving,” Nova said. “If I were to keep anything else it could be incriminating. That and knowing Leroy he’ll probably burn anything in acid or some chemicals.”

“Where are you going after?” Ruby asked.

“I got my own place,” Nova asked.

“I’m going to add that to the list of things you should have told us,” Oscar said.

“Oh no it’s really recent. Like I just moved in last night,” Nova asked. “So honestly we can move these little meetings there once it’s all set up. It’s not like we would have to worry about parents or other people coming in because it’s just me.”

“Okay so that’s useful,” Danna said.

“I have to actually have more then a duffel bag’s worth of personal belongings first,” Nova said.

“Tell us when you do so we have a better place to go.”

“It might take a bit but I will,” Nova reassured.

Danna wasn’t sure what exactly Nova owned. For all she knew it could be a few months before she even had the ability to host them as she would probably focus on buying necessities like food first before she moved on to buying any furniture for them. It wasn’t like she slept either so if there wasn’t a bed there probably wasn’t much incentive to go get one.

Danna also assumed that Adrian would probably end up drawing her some bulkier things just because he could if she knew anything about her brother so maybe it wouldn’t be too far into the future.

“So is this it? Is this all we have?” Adrian asked.

“For now. Later Nova and I can probably work out a plan together so we can get at least one of us into the Artifacts department and Adrian I need you to figure out what the passcode would be from your dads,” Danna explained.

Any plan they had was useless if they couldn’t get the passcode. There was no point in breaking in for something if they couldn’t even obtain it.

“Oh that’s easy. The two of them always forget passwords so I know they have it written around somewhere,” Adrian told them.

“Alright this is going to be easier then I thought it would be,” Nova said, “I mean I’ve already broken into the Archives before and things are still messed up at HQ so even though there would be more patrol groups it couldn’t be too hard to get passed them with enough of us if we really do have to go through with a full on break in.”

“Stop bragging that you’re a trained spy and assassin. Not all of us are that cool,” Oscar said, punching her in the arm. She just hit him back.

“Anyways,” Danna said, continuing. “We really just need to get Nova in. I mean we’re opening her file so it’s probably best if she’s the one who gets to look at it. Besides, she already works in the Archives. It won’t be hard for her to act like she’s cataloging something.”

Danna wasn’t really forward to knowing the full extent of the file on Nova’s family. She didn’t think Nova would really want to share such personal information and since she already knew most of what happened and it was revolving around the death’s of her family, it was only fair that she got to know the information first. She deserved to know and deserved to be updated on what happened that night.

Nova would probably be the only one able to stomach it with crying or wanting to throw up. Just from what Danna could read it was an intense case and if Nova had already gone through it then she would be able to prepare herself.

“If we can get a new assignment for patrol or take up a certain case then one of you could probably go and check out something from the Archives to distract Tina or Callum. Usually it’s just Callum and he’ll be more then happy to help you with whatever you need to find if I’m bust cataloging,” Nova said. “Thursday nights after 9 it’s always just us but anytime after 10 it’s just me.”

“Okay so it’s not impossible. The question is how do we make sure we have the information saved without the security cameras catching all of this?” Ruby asked.

“I already have that covered. Don’t worry about it,” Danna said.

Danna’s plan was to get Narcissa to steal the information while Nova helped one of them find whatever they needed in the Archives. Nova could probably work on cataloging some mirrors or some assorted items and could turn and leave them on the cart temporarily to go help whoever came in to check something out.

That way it wasn’t suspicious, Narcissa could quickly enter the passcode, write down the information, and get out. She could drop it off at Nova’s, traveling through mirror, and Nova could read it after. Then they could keep it back with Narcissa in the mirror realm so they weren’t caught.

And if the cameras detected something or someone went back and saw the footage and found it suspicious then Nova could say that she had told Callum that she planned on cataloging those specific items that night and Narcissa must have spied and overheard so she got the timing right. No one would question it after that as long as Nova made sure she said that to Callum.

“Anything else?” Ruby asked.

“No I think that’s about it.”

“Good because my mom just texted me that she’s on her way to pick me up and she’s Oscar’s ride home too.”

“Aww,” Oscar said as he grabbed his and Ruby’s jackets for them. “We’ll see you guys tomorrow at HQ.”

Both him and Ruby then left, Danna watching from the window to make sure they both got into Mrs. Tucker’s car safely before turning back to Nova and Adrian.

“We should probably head out,” Nova said, turning to Adrian and taking off her wrist band.

“Yeah that’d be smart. It’s starting to get dark out,” Adrian said, taking it from her and putting it in his pocket.

“Actually I need to talk to Nova alone,” Danna said.

Both of them gave her a look but as requested Adrian left, taking the wrist band with him.

“Just meet me there at like 8:30,” Nova told him as he walked out the door.

“Got it.”

Danna raised a brow once it was just her and Nova. 

“Sneaking off to some romantic rendezvous with my brother?”

“Actually leaving the Anarchists for good and getting back the Vitality Charm which should be….. interesting to say the least,” Nova said, face turning sour as she told her.

“Oh,” Danna said. It couldn’t have been an easy task, even for Nova. She might have been the only one who could actually stand her ground in a fight against two Anarchists but then again, they had raised her and she imagined it couldn’t be something that she could take on emotionally. They may have treated her terribly but they were the only form of family she had.

At least until now because now Nova had Adrian and Danna and the team. 

“What did you want to talk to me about?” Nova asked, changing the topic.

“I ran into Narcissa and I’ve convinced her to help. Her powers would be useful and since she’s not a Renegade she can get away with a lot more without suspicion. But it seemed like she sort of has a bad relationship with you so I wanted to know if that was alright?”

“Yeah I should probably talk to her and work things out,” Nova sighed, running a hand through her loose curls.

“What happened?” Danna asked.

“We sort of hand a fling for a few months when we were 15 and we were friends before that because she was literally the only person my age that I knew but the Anarchists told me she was becoming too much of a distraction so I stopped seeing her and honestly it was probably a good thing because at this point I would have dragged her into some sort of trouble. The only time I’ve seen her since was at the library,” Nova admitted.

“Okay so I was right!” Danna cheered. She then noticed the sad look on Nova’s face and stopped. “Sorry,” she apologized.

“It’s fine though did you mean you were right in that you thought we had dated or right in the sense that I’m bisexual?”

“Well I wasn’t going to assume your label if you even have one but I was right about both,” Danna said, proud that she figured it out though she tried not to flaunt it too much on Nova as it wasn’t a good time. “Do you think you two could work it out? I mean it seems like you still care about one another as friends.”

“Probably,” Nova said. “I mean it’s been a while since we talked but if you give her my address and send her my way tomorrow then it’ll be fine. Then after that I assume you have some sort of plan that involves her that all three of us will need to work out.”

“You’re right with that assumption,” Danna told her. “Good luck tonight with leaving the Anarchists by the way. I hope things are alright for you.”

“Thanks.”

“Just don’t let my brother get hurt. When it comes to us and the rest of the team he tends to be protective and-”

“Rush into things?” Nova finished, snorting. “Trust me I know. When we had the fight with the Detonator at the fun house she showed up and even though I was the one who had the gun he immediately went to defend me.”

“Sounds about right,” Danna laughed. “I think he’d rather fall on his ass before he lets anyone get a papercut.”

“Definitely,” Nova agreed. She then saw the clock on the wall. “I better get going. I’ll see you later.”

“Oh wait,” Danna said, stopping her before she walked out the door. “What’s your address so I can give it to Narcissa?”

“36A on the Westbrook Apartment complex. It’s literally the four streets over from here,” Nova told her.

Danna knew where that complex was. She had passed by it many times on patrol and sometimes when she flew around with her butterflies she passed it too as it was on her normal route.

“Oh and Nova,” Danna said as she went out the front door.

“Hmm?” Nova asked, turning her head.

“Don’t break my brother’s heart please.”

Nova gave her a soft smile. “Trust me. I don’t want to ever hurt him at all.”

“Good. See you later!” Danna said as she went out the front door, leaving Danna satisfied with the feeling that Nova and her were starting to really become good friends.

Danna then wrote down the address on a note and tapes it to the mirror for Narcissa along with directions for her to go talk to Nova tomorrow night.

Hopefully things would work out and the three of them could come up with a plan by Thursday night.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nova and Adrian work to get her out of the grasp of the Anarchists

Nova met Adrian at an entrance for the subway tunnels on the south side of Gatlon. After Danna’s she had quickly gone home and changed out of her uniform and into some casual clothes so she didn’t attract any attention.

“Hey,” Adrian said. “You ready?”

Nova took a deep breath. Everything was going to change after this but she knew it had to be done. She didn’t get a choice whether she was ready or not.

“Yeah. I’m ready.”

“Here. Press the button if you need me or call for help,” Adrian said, placing a little buzzer into her hand. He must have drawn them.

“Thanks. Now go keep quiet. I’ll be back shortly." 

Nova slipped into the tunnels, heart pounding.

"Honey! Leroy!” It’s just me. I need to grab something,“ Nova said as she crept in.

"Okay. When you’re done can you bring me the stun gun that’s in your things. I need it to run a test,” Leroy called back.

“Sure,” she said as she went to one of the subway cars where all her things were shoved. In the bottom, under some weapons and her gear for Nightmare, was the Vitality Charm. She grabbed it and put it on, hiding the chain beneath the collar of her shirt and the zipped of her jacket.

She then noticed that the bag that the helmet was in was right next to the box of her things and one of Honey’s old mirrors was also close by, on the opposite side of the car.

Just as a precaution, Nova moved the mirror closer. It was full body and Narcissa could easily slip through it if it was needed and they eventually had to return the helmet though Nova couldn’t guarantee if Honey and Leroy wouldn’t move it’s position.

Nova then grabbed the stun gun and made her way to Leroy with it.

He smiled at her.

“Nightmare! It’s good to see you!” He said, giving her a lopsided grin.

She squeezed the stun gun in her fist though she didn’t set it off.

“Leroy…. a while ago…. before I became a spy…. you asked if I wanted to start myself a new life and while I don’t want to be a Renegade, I don’t think I want to be an Anarchist anymore either,” she admitted, trying to stay confident and now fall apart from fear.

Before he could say anything, Honey came up behind Nova.

“You what!” She shrieked. “You can leave! We’re too close!”

“Please,” Nova pleaded. “I can’t handle it. I’m just a teenager! I shouldn’t have to do this!”

“Did you forget what happened to your parents! Did you forget what the Renegades did!" 

"I didn’t but I also know what you did! Please there’s only the two of you and there’s no getting Ace out just give it up! At least let me have a chance to actually live instead of being hidden away in the tunnels!”

“You don’t get to leave,” Honey said, glaring.

Nova’s stomach churned and she looked for Leroy for help but in the midst of all the arguing he had left from the other door.

Nova gulped but she wasn’t going to call Adrian in just yet. She had to be sure of what Honey and Leroy were going to do and she didn’t want to drag him into it. She didn’t want to make things worse.

“Honey,” Nova begged but it was too late.

Nova felt a pinch on her arm and then suddenly more and more as wasps and bees of all types filled up her one sleeve. It burned and ached and caused searing pain, like flames on spots of her skin.

She bit back the pain and forced herself not to cry or make a single noise. She could still talk her way out of this and keep Adrian out of the way. The Vitality Charm was certainly helping from it being overbearing too.

“I can make it stop if you stay,” Honey promised, her voice a false sweet.

“No,” Nova insisted. “No I’m not going to stay here anymore.”

“Then so be it,” Honey said, face turning back to sour and the bees stinging more rapidly on her arm before she felt them begin to crawl on other parts of her body.

Honey was going to make it slow and painful for her.

She was about to call for Adrian when Leroy showed up behind Honey, a beehive of hers in one hand, and a test tube of some chemical mixture in the other.

“Let her go Queen Bee,” Leroy said, glaring.

“LEROY!” Honey wailed. “YOU TOO!”

“She’s a child and should have never been dragged into this in the first place. Let her go. It’s over,” he persisted. “Let her go or I’ll pour acid down every single hive you have.”

Honey looked between Nova and then Leroy with her hives. She growled but caved in.

“Fine!” She said before storming off. “I guess we’re down to just one free Anarchist now!”

Leroy set down the hive and then turned to Nova, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“I hope you know what you’re doing but I’ll burn all your stuff for you,” he told her.

“I do. I have a plan,” Nova said, wiping her eyes and calming down so Adrian wouldn’t notice. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Now leave before she had the chance to change her mind,” Leroy said.

Nova nodded and took off, dashing to the other end of the tunnel and scrambling out to where Adrian was waiting, ignoring her throbbing arm. It would be fine shortly once the Vitality Charm had done its job.

It was dark and if there was any sign of hurt on her he didn’t notice.

“Good. I was starting to get worried,” he told her, smiling.

“Yeah I’m fine. Leroy got me out,” Nova said. It wasn’t the truth but not a total lie either. She didn’t want him worried about something that would be healed quickly.

Frankly Nova had gone through worse before.

“Why don’t we go back to my place so you can grab your arm band and we can watch a movie,” he offered.

“That sounds nice,” Nova agreed.

She felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

She was free from the Anarchists. She was free from being Nightmare. She was free and they weren’t going to drag her back in ever again. They couldn’t. Not without getting themselves arrested too at least.

Nova was safe to be on her own and be with Adrian and her friends and her heart was racing at the thought of it.

They went to Adrian’s place and Nova noted that his dads weren’t home as she kicked off her shoes and put them away.

The two of them went to his room where Adrian found a movie he liked and popped it into the movie player while she put the wristband back on, sitting on the couch.

Adrian sat beside her, throwing an arm over her shoulder and resting his head on her shoulder. Unfortunately it was right on one of the still aching bee stings and Nova yelped in pain before realizing what she had done.

He raised his brow at her and then pushed up her sleeve carefully. He took her wrist gently in his palm and turned it over, horrified by all the welts.

“Nova what happened?” Adrian asked.

“Honey,” Nova said.

“I told you to call for me if you needed help,” he said, devastated and clearly hurt.

“I’m fine,” she insisted.

“Lets go to the bathroom,” he sighed. “I can patch this up.”

“It’s not a big deal. Really I can handle it,” she told him. She had been stung by Honey before as a form of training and while she remembered it vividly, she also remembered how she healed it rather quickly on her own. Her leg had ached for a week straight from some of the venom but she was perfectly fine.

“My star,” Adrian said gently, his words soft and quiet as he took her chin gently in his thumb and pointer-finger, angling her face up at his. “You are allowed to ask for help.”

“Okay,” Nova finally agreed. 

Adrian nodded and left as Nova got up and walked out of the little art studio to the bathroom. Nova sat on the edge of the tub while he took out a first aid kit and put on the gloves. He took off her jacket cautiously and then pushed up the short sleeve of her button up. The stings were mainly on her forearm but went up to her shoulder too.

It didn’t feel as bad as earlier, probably from the Vitality Charm, but it still ached. Honey must have known that she had the charm and she also must have sent out her most venomous insects too. Several of the bees and wasps she controlled had strong enough venom that after a fair amount of strings, it could kill you.

That and Honey was always trying to get their stingers into some chemical concoction that Leroy made to make them even more dangerous than they already could be. There was a good chance that some of the bees had their stingers dipped into something to make them more deadly and Nova could tell as it was still an intense amount of pain for all the Vitality Charm could do.

Kneeling beside her, Adrian opened up one of the alcohol wipes and gently applied it to her arm, running it from her shoulder to her wrist with a small amount of pressure.

At first it felt like nothing but then came intense, searing pain. Nova wailed in agony, the stings feeling like they were more on fire then before and she felt like it was almost bubbling beneath her skin. 

Honey had definitely dipped the stingers into something and it was now reacting with the alcohol from the wipe.

“Nova!” Adrian exclaimed, pulling away, face contorted with worry.

Nova gripped the porcelain and did her best not to shed any tears but couldn’t help but cry. She leaned against Adrian’s chest and sobbed in pain as her skin boiled and burned. It was like small explosions were happening beneath her skin and it was one of the worst things she had ever felt for a while. She could see little spots of amber on her skin and there was an odd smell from whatever chemical reaction had occurred.

Nova also felt a little woozy and even tired which was something that never happened to her. It must have been worse then she thought.

Adrian cradled her against him, still holding Nova’s burning arm in his palm like it was a fragile object that would shatter if he let it touch anything else.

“Baby I’m so sorry,” Adrian said, almost crying himself. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Don’t be sorry. The stingers must have been put in something,” Nova sniffled. “I don’t know what but lets wait and let the Vitality Charm set in more before we try to do anything.”

Adrian rubbed her back soothingly and rested his head on top of hers. “Anything I can do for you?”

“Do you think you can draw something that will draw out the pain?” Nova hissed, seething in pain.

“I can try,” he told her. 

Adrian took her other wrist and began drawing plants on her with his marker. They were small little doodles of plants Nova recognized immediately as she had gotten into botany and plants as one of her hobbies temporarily.

Three different, but distinct, doodles went on her wrist. One was aloe, the next was chamomile, and the third was plantain, the weed not the fruit. After a few moments the pain subdued but not by enough for her to take her mind off it for very long.

“How’s that?” Adrian asked her, watching as the welts stopped swelling as much.

“It helps but is there anything else you can do?”

“I can try drawing ice or some sort of ointment but I don’t want to make another reaction happen and hurt you worse.”

Nova racked her brain for what could have been mixed with rubbing alcohol to cause such a reaction. Leroy had quizzed her on it so she should have known but she was in too much pain before to have really realized or thought about what it could have been.

She realized that the stingers must have been dipped with bleach. It was something she knew for a fact that Honey had herself as she would use it to clean up massive stains around whatever hole they had to live in.

Mixed with rubbing alcohol, it resulted in chloroform and chloroacetone. Chloroacetone was basically tear gas and looked yellow or amber when exposed to light, which there was plenty of through the blinds of Nova’s apartment, and the chloroform would explain why she felt tired.

While water wouldn’t be much help with chloroform, it only helped it pool and become more concentrated in spots, it could help get rid of the chloroacetone and Nova would rather the pain go away and end up sleeping then anything else. She’d much rather be asleep and vulnerable then be in any of the pain she was in now.

“We can wash it off and use ice. It’ll take away the pain but I might end up being really tired though I think by then the Vitality Charm will keep that from happening.”

The Vitality Charm was the only reason why she didn’t have chemical burns and it wasn’t way worse than it felt and looked. If they gave it some time and took their own action they could clear it up quickly.

“Okay. We’ll do that then,” Adrian said before helping her up. 

Nova put her arm beneath the faucet, starting at the place that was worst with the most stings, and turned on the water, putting a small amount of soap on her arm to help make sure it was clean. She checked to be sure there wasn’t anything in the soap that would make it worse. 

Then Adrian drew something on his wrist with the marker and when he touched the water, it turned into ice.

Nova made a small sound of pain as at first the water and soap stung. Adrian just pressed a small piece of ice to the top of her shoulder, his forehead resting against hers as he tried to keep her calm and relaxed.

“I know,” he whispered. “I know.”

After a few moments the pain subdued greatly and the coolness from the ice helped.

They must have washed a lot of it out because by the time Adrian gently pat her arm dry, most of the welts were almost gone and very faint on her. The pain was a dull throb in her body and she could move her arm and hand around without withering in pain though the muscle in her arm was still tense from venom.

Gently, she unclasped the charm and handed it off to Adrian.

“Are you sure?” He asked.

“Yeah I’ll be fine. I’ll just pick up some ibuprofen on the way home or something like that.”

“Stay put,” he told her, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head as he took the charm and went upstairs.

A few moments later he reentered the room with a cup of water and two pills, which Nova assumed were pain killers, in his palm, the charm gone. He must have tucked it away somewhere.

“Here,” Adrian said, giving her the medicine and the cup of water.

She took the pills but it didn’t kick in instantly.

Instead she went out and settled herself on the couch, her boyfriend placing a blanket over her and snuggling against her.

They laid there for what felt like an hour, resting in a comfortable silence.

“Tell me if I accidentally hurt you alright,” Adrian mumbled before he kissed her.

She sunk into it, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling her body to his. An arm slid to the back of her legs and he picked her up.

Nova could feel him moving to the bed and her heart pounded as he pulled back the covers. Her mind was racing with the possibilities about what was going to happen next.

But of course Adrian was extremely respectful of her boundaries and based on how they had only been together for a few months, she figured that nothing too serious was going to happen.

Gently, he laid her down on the bed, pausing for a minute to look at her and smile. Everything about his expression was soft and loving and his deep brown eyes made it hard for her to not feel herself blushing under his gaze.

Sweet rot she loved his eyes.

Adrian moved on top of her, a leg at each side and his fingers pushing back some hair out of her face. He pressed a kiss to each cheek, lips lingering for a moment before he did the same to each side of her neck and to her collarbone, fingering with the top few buttons of her shirt to do so. 

The warmth of his body and hands was overwhelming and sending fireworks off through her body. Nova knew her heart was pounding and he could probably hear it.

Adrian paused, pressing his head to hers, their noses touching.

Carefully, she reached up and cupped his face, brushing his cheeks with the pads of her thumbs.

“Please never get hurt again my star,” Adrian begged, voice breaking. “I was so worried. You should have asked for my help. That’s what I was there for." 

"Sinta I’m alright. I can handle myself. I knew I would be okay,” she reassured, keeping her voice calm and soothing. 

“I don’t want you to be hurt by them again. They’ve already had a lifetime of harm thanks to them. You don’t need anymore,” Adrian said. “Just let me protect you.”

“I don’t need protection,” Nova insisted.

“Do you not need protection or have you gone so long in your life without any that you think you don’t?” He asked.

She glared at him. Nova appreciated his want and desire to keep her safe but she didn’t need it. The last time she trusted someone to keep her safe it only got her hurt. She had trusted the Renegades to keep her safe and they let her down. She had trusted her parents to keep her safe and it got them killed. She had trusted the Anarchists to keep her safe and it resulted in her being crushed under rubble as she hid from a battle in the Cathedral only for her to then be stuck in their cycle of abuse.

Nova would admit, always having to be on guard was exhausting. She had been like that her whole life but every time she didn’t look, something slipped through. Pain always seemed to look for blind spots.

But maybe he did have a point. Maybe an outer source to tell her when something was wrong was alright and would be beneficial. She wouldn’t have to be so worried all the time. But there was still a voice in the back of her mind screaming that letting anyone in was a bad idea. That being vulnerable to anyone was a bad idea.

Maybe it was because everyone she had ever trusted had failed her. Maybe it was because there was still part of her that couldn’t trust a Renegade.

Nova felt guilty about it. Adrian wasn’t to blame if the Anarchists had screwed her over so much that all she saw when she spotted a Renegade was a potential threat. And the fact that she still had issues with the Renegades didn’t help either.

Adrian didn’t deserve to have to be pushed away for the mistakes of other people. Mistakes he was trying his best to help fix.

“If I let you protect me then how do I know that it won’t backfire on me and you hurt me?” Nova asked, her voice cracking as tears started to well up.

“Because I care about you. No matter what happens I always will. It’s okay to be scared but it’s also okay to let yourself take a break and have someone else keep you safe when you need it. If you give me that chance I’ll prove it to you.”

“I am scared Adrian,” she admitted. “I trust you but I need you to accept that there’s part of me that doesn’t want to let you in because every time I trusted someone to keep me safe they failed and I just got hurt worse. I don’t want that to happen again and I know it’s going to be a very long time before that part of me ever goes away.”

“Then I’ll wait for you. I hope that will help prove to you that I’m not going to let you fall.”

Nova smiled and shook her head.

“Adrian you already have proven that,” she told him. “And I’ve let you in far more than any other person in my life because of that. I just can’t go much more right now.”

Nova thought of all he had done for her in less then a year of them knowing one another. She was the first person she ever let her guard down to and the first person she ever told about her family’s deaths. He found out she was Nightmare and decided to stay. He knew it was going to take time for her to heal and still chose to stay. He realized that due to her trauma and isolation she was easily overwhelmed when he was affectionate and didn’t mind and instead gave her space and tried to help her get better even though he had no obligation to.

And he never held anything against her.

Adrian already had proven to her that he was someone who was actually safe for her. She just couldn’t help that her automatic response to people trying to help her was that they were going to get her hurt.

“That’s okay too,” Adrian said. “I didn’t mean to push you or make you feel uncomfortable if you weren’t ready for me to know any of this yet.”

“No it’s alright,” Nova reassured. “This is probably something you need to know for our relationship to continue and to be healthy. You were just trying to do your best to protect me.”

It was the truth. Nova knew he was only trying to keep her safe. She knew he didn’t want to harm her even though parts of her were screaming otherwise.

At the same time she wanted to tear down her walls for him. She wished she could feel safe to let him in. She wanted to recover so she could give that to him.

Adrian had already given her so much and was doing so much for her and asked for nothing in return. He had only known her for a few months and dated her for a bit less time and yet he still stayed with her and did his best to help her when he had no reason to stay but every reason to leave. He could have told everyone she was Nightmare and walked away from her. 

But he didn’t.

And Nova just wanted to be able to let him protect her and fully put her guard down because she knew that he had no intentions of hurting her. There was no reason for him to put so much time and effort and work into helping her just so he could turn around and stab her in the back.

“I know you already said that I’ve proven to you that I’m not going to hurt you but if I have to prove it over and over again then I will,” Adrian said. “I want you because of who you are and no other reason and great skies I want you so much.”

Nova was not used to anyone having her best interest in her mind. She was unused to the feeling of being wanted simply because of who she was that it was unnerving. 

But it was also exhilarating and warmed her heart.

There was not a false motive behind it. There was no false motive that he could even have. He didn’t want her around so he could use her for his own interest. He didn’t want her around because he felt bad. Adrian wanted her because he cared.

“I want you too,” Nova said, voice cracking, head resting against his chest.

It was something hard for her to admit as still, even now, even now that she had Adrian, she couldn’t help but feel guilty about wanting him. It felt like a betrayal even though Nova knew she wasn’t betraying anyone and was only making herself happy. She certainly wasn’t betraying her family either as she would continue to seek justice for them.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t have Adrian at the same time. 

Nova could have both. She was allowed to have both.

It was something she didn’t realize before but was grateful she realized now.

“I’m sorry for fighting with you,” Nova apologized.

She hated being upset with him and him being upset with her. The two of them hardly had any serious arguments and this had been the worse one by far and she hated it. Nova loathed the feeling of arguing with Adrian.

“Don’t be. I know you have fears because of what you’ve been through and I shouldn’t have tried to shove my way past that,” Adrian told her, holding her tightly.

“You just wanted to keep me safe and are trying to look out for me and I don’t blame you for it. I’m trying to let you in and I know that you’re not going to hurt me or let me get hurt but-”

“You just can’t help it?”

Nova nodded. “Yeah.”

“You’re going to get there. We’re going to get there,” Adrian promised.

She smiled softly and kissed him, one hand in his hair and the other holding onto his arm. He kissed her back but then suddenly pulled away, looking like he had just realized something.

“What’s wrong?” Nova asked.

“My star I-” He began, but he cut himself off, looking like he was going to regret what he was going to say. “I don’t want to push you.”

Nova had a feeling that he wasn’t referring to them kissing. She thought that instead he was going to tell her something like that he loved her but didn’t want to rush her so he chose not to say so. They hadn’t even been together for a whole year yet so she understood why he thought it could be too soon.

Nova did love him though. She loved every part of him with every part of her. But she didn’t know if that’s what he was going to tell her so she didn’t say a word about it. She didn’t want to embarrass him or herself and if he wasn’t going to say that then she didn’t want him to feel pressured into saying it back.

“It’s okay Adrian,” Nova reassured. “I get you’re just trying to be cautious and careful but I’m not going to fall apart when you touch me.”

“I know,” Adrian whispered close to her ear. “But you’re too important to me to ever take that chance.”

Nova felt warmth spread through her face from that statement.

It was a good feeling too.

She was valuable to him. He wanted her and didn’t want to risk losing her. 

It was another thing she had never had before. With the Anarchists she was valuable as long as she had a purpose for them. She was just as valuable as she was disposable.

But she was valuable to Adrian purely because he saw her and for no other reason decided that she did have value to him and was important to him. She was extremely important to him if he didn’t want to ever lose her. 

Adrian wasn’t going to toss her aside once he had what he wanted. He couldn’t do that if she was what he wanted. And even more he was actively trying to keep her because of that.

“Why don’t we go do something else?” She suggested.

“We should probably eat,” Adrian said. “I can bring down some snacks and we can play Uno.”

“What’s Uno?” Nova asked. She had heard of the game but never played it and didn’t know the rules at all.

“Okay well now we have to play Uno since you’ve never experienced the best card game ever.”

Adrian got off the bed and disappeared for a few moments before he came back to her with a large bag of Goldfish and a deck of cards. He set them on the bed and sat across from her before dealing out the cards.

He explained the rules to her and it seemed like a fairly simple game. It wasn’t hard to understand or follow and she didn’t need to do an open hand round to figure out what she should do. Adrian also told her that he usually played with certain house rules like stacking.

Nova was down to her last two cards and Adrian had four left. She just had a yellow five and a wild card. However the card on top was a blue two and while she wanted to save her wildcard to play last to guarantee she won, she didn’t have another choice unless she wanted to draw and risk losing to Adrian.

Nova was not going to lose to Adrian.

She placed it down. 

“I’m changing it to yellow and also Uno,” Nova declared.

In return, Adrian played a yellow skip card, grinning before he then put down a green skip card and then lastly, a green five.

He looked proud of himself until Nova placed her last card, sticking her tongue out.

“I win.”

Adrian stared at her dumb-founded. 

“I hate this so much. What are the odds?”

“You’re just upset that you lost,” Nova laughed as she collected the cards. “Sore loser.”

“Cocky winner,” he fired back.

Nova winked at him. “You know it." 

Adrian hooted with laughter, taking the cards from her to reshuffle the cards.

The moment was ruined when Adrian’s armband buzzed.

"My dads are on their way home,” He told her.

“I better head home,” Nova said, moving off of the bed and going to stand up. “It’s getting late and you should probably sleep.”

“I’ll walk you to the door,” Adrian told her, getting up beside her and giving her back her wristband. 

She took it from him and then grabbed a hoodie from his dresser. He watched but didn’t say a word and instead smiled. Nova found her shoes upstairs and he kissed her goodbye before she left, stopping at a local store to get painkillers before going to her apartment.

Cleo and Estelle caught her on the way back to her apartment as she exited the elevator.

“Oh good you’re back. We were getting worried,” Estelle said. “Who was the lovely young man who stopped by with flowers for you?" 

"That’s my boyfriend Adrian. He brought it as a housewarming gift.”

“Ah yes we saw when we dropped off our housewarming gift for you. We hope you like it,” Cleo told her.

“I’m sure it’s lovely,” Nova said as she unlocked her apartment door. “Thank you.”

They waved goodbye as she went in, closing the door gently behind her and locking it before dropping her things on the table.

She went to put the painkillers away in the cabinet in the bathroom and noticed that things like towels and rags and cleaning supplies were all there. 

It was a lot and it surprised her but Nova looked around the apartment more. In the kitchen there were potholders as well as some pots and pans and dishes and silverware and even the fridge and cabinets were stocked with food.

In the bedroom not much was changed other than the fact that there was a bead with sheets and a floral comforter and pillows.

There was a note from them on her bed.

“We realized you might be short on a few necessities so we’d thought we’d drop them off as a housewarming gift. Hope you don’t mind. - Cleo and Estelle,” it read.

Nova smiled. They were very sweet women and she wished she was around more so she could get to know them. Once the whole mess was sorted out then maybe she’d have that chance. It would be nice to know more people outside her team.

Nova folded back the note and put it in the drawer of the bedside table only to find a box of condoms. She blushed and shoved them deep back in the drawer along with the note before slamming it shut. 

Those definitely weren’t there before and she definitely had zero intentions of needing them any time soon.

Nova heard a rustling sound and whirled her head only to see Narcissa come out of the mirror above the dresser, jumping onto the floor.

“Hey,” she said casually, her braid a little tousled from the small exit space. 

“Hi,” Nova said, doing her best to not be awkward or weird. It had been a long time since they had actually spoken to each other and had a conversation that wasn’t forced.

“You wanted to talk to me?” Narcissa asked.

“Yeah umm I did,” Nova said. “I just don’t want things to be weird between us or for us to be on bad terms with one another and-”

“No no no. I totally get it,” Narcissa said.

“I- I don’t mean to be rude but can we do this tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be here around 2 and I know you came so you could talk to me and I asked but I just completely cut things off with the Anarchists and it’s a lot.”

“Oh no that’s totally fine. It’s late and I should probably get to bed anyways,” Narcissa said, insisting that it wasn’t an issue. It was a relief to Nova as she didn’t want to make things between them any worse then they probably already were.

But Narcissa, at the very least, had always been an understanding person, no matter who she was talking with. She was always the type to listen.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Nova said, offering her a soft smile.

“Yeah I’ll see you too,” she said before going back into the mirror.

She sighed and then went and got clean clothes before taking a shower, washing her face, and brushing her teeth. She threw her dirty clothes in the washer and ran it right away to make sure she got any chemical residue off of it and put on fresh, soft, comfortable clothes.

Nova sat down on the couch and let herself relax. For someone who never slept she was exhausted.

But she was finally free from the Anarchists and she now had her own space.

Things were going the way she wanted and maybe things weren’t going to be so bad anymore.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrian gets the password and then him and Danna act like the siblings they are.

The next morning, after his dads left for work, Adrian went into the office upstairs and carefully started looking around. It’s not like they had cameras inside and it wasn’t like his dads kept anything in the office locked.

At least nothing that Adrian couldn’t unlock by drawing the key or by drawing lock picking tools and watching a video online.

They weren’t going to suddenly come back home either. They had been delighted that Adrian had found the Vitality Charm in the house, though he gave Nova the credit, and of course they wanted to go spend plenty of time with Max now that they had the ability to.

Carefully, he moved around papers and looked between files, trying to wrack his brain for where they kept the lists of passwords as he knew that they kept the password for the wifi in the office somewhere.

Adrian went into one of the cabinets and opened it to find a small lock box. He recognized it as something his dads had used when he was once looking for the password for the at home computer so he could play Club Penguin.

Adrian grabbed a pen from off the desk and took out the ink cartridge. He then poured it into the lock hole and when he used his powers, it turned into a hollow key that he then made a handle for and attached to the solidified ink.

Adrian turned the handle and filtered through the passwords until he found the one he was looking for. Of course the Renegades Council couldn’t have an individual password for each different restricted case file so instead there was one password that worked for all of them.

Adrian grabbed a sticky note and scribbled it down before shoving it in his pocket and relocking the box, putting everything back where it belonged and leaving like nothing happened.

Adrian tossed the key into the table of his nightstand and then got dressed before texting Danna to come over after she ate breakfast. No one on their team had patrol today as minors didn’t have it as often as adults and had more days off as a result.

Danna: Okay. 

Danna: Also do you like apples and peanut butter because my dad made me some but it’s way too much for me. Should I bring it over?

He laughed. That sounded like a lot of his texts from Danna about her dad. He usually worked the night shift so when Danna got up was when he was going to bed so he was sure to always make her breakfast before doing so.

Adrian: Sure. I was just going to eat cereal.

Danna: Well you can have it with your cereal then.

Danna: You probably need to eat way more then I do anyways. You’re too tall. 

Danna: You’re my younger brother so you should do me the favor of shrinking so I can be taller and people know I’m older.

Adrian rolled his eyes. She was only older then him by a few months and she flaunted it every chance she got. Of course as her younger brother he didn’t not do anything to annoy her either.

Adrian: You’re not even a year older.

Danna: But I am older though.

Adrian: Maybe we can find something in the Artifacts that will shrink me. How’s that?

Danna: It’s what you should make my next birthday gift.

Adrian: Noted.

He then went to the kitchen and poured some cereal into a bowl. He ate and finished by the time Danna arrived. She just let herself in and came up next to him, sitting at one of the barstools at the island in the kitchen and dropping her bag on the countertop.

“Here,” she said, pulling out a plastic container that had some apple slices and peanut butter in it. They slid across the counter to where he was.

“I have what you need as well,” Adrian said, taking out the piece of paper and giving it to her.

“Oh good. I can give this to Narcissa then after we work out a plan with Nova,” she said, putting it in her bag.

“Narcissa?” Adrian asked as he dipped the apple into the peanut butter. “You mean the mirror walker from the library? Gene Cronin’s granddaughter?”

He wasn’t sure why she was part of this or why she wasn’t mentioned beforehand at their group meeting.

“Yeah that’s her. It’s a long story but she’s willing to work with us and it’s way better to have someone who isn’t a Renegade at all grab the information because it takes any suspicion off of us if we play our cards right,” Danna explained.

Like most times, his older sister wasn’t wrong. She was extremely clever and perceptive which is what made her such a great lookout. Her and Nova made a great team whenever they got the chance and usually saved the rest of their team’s asses from things they didn’t even notice because they had been too wrapped up in the main objective of their mission.

He was glad that the two of them got along well. He wouldn’t want his sister and his girlfriend fighting.

“Why didn’t you say anything about her earlier when we were at your place?” Adrian asked.

“Because I didn’t want to freak out Nova. Apparently they know each other and it didn’t end on great terms so I told Nova ahead of time. That’s why I wanted to talk to her alone,” Danna explained. “How is she doing by the way? You know after leaving and all that?”

“She seemed really relieved and more relaxed which is good but there was a bit of a struggle with Honey that would have been a lot worse without the Vitality Charm,” Adrian explained. 

He shivered at the thought of what happened. It looked very painful and the way she cried and screamed and thrashed, something that was completely unlike her whenever she had gotten seriously injured before, only amplified the idea that it must have been one of the worst forms of pain to go through. He felt awful that the rubbing alcohol made it worse but it wasn’t like either of them knew any better.

Adrian just wished he could have taken the pain away faster and done more besides just holding her to help give her some comfort.

“Is she alright?” Danna asked. “I mean enough venomous stings and it can kill you.”

“She was doing a lot better after we managed to clean it up and let the Vitality Charm take over. I mean I gave her painkillers but I could only help her so much. Honey dipped the stingers in something and we found that out the hard way.”

Danna cringed. “That had to be bad.”

“Yeah I don’t think I’ve ever seen her react that badly to pain before but it was pretty much gone by the time she left late last night.”

Danna raised a brow and smirked. 

“Oh so you had your girlfriend over late last night?” She said cheekily. “Did you use protection?”

Adrian groaned and covered his face with his hands.

“Danna,” he complained. “You’re so mean to me. Stop bullying me. I’m your brother.”

“That’s exactly why I bully you,” she said.

“What did I ever do to you?” Adrian asked before eating another apple slice.

“You exist that’s what.”

He swallowed the slice.

“That’s not my fault! I didn’t ask to exist!”

“And? Your point?” Danna asked. “Now spill on what you did with Nova.”

“This is an invasion of privacy,” Adrian said. He was not going to fork over every detail of his love life to his sister.

“I’m your sister and I’m invested in this so I need to know. If you don’t tell me then I’ll just get the answers out of Nova and who would you rather tell me?” She bargained.

Adrian sighed. “If I tell you do you promise to leave me alone about it?”

“Sure,” Danna said. “Pinky promise.”

She held out her hand with her pinky extended and he shook it with his own. It was completely childish but pinky promises were pinky promises and that wasn’t something you broke.

“So after I patched her up and when she was mostly healed we made out but then we went and played some Uno.”

“Anything else? Like did you get in her pants?”

“DANNA!” He exclaimed, cheeks flaming. She could embarrass him so much sometimes and when it came to his love life and relationship she was always very curious and liked to dig into it. Usually she let him have his privacy but he also supposed that dating a girl she was friends with made her want to know a lot about what was happening. 

“Hey I need to make sure my baby brother can actually flirt and is good with his partners,” she defended. “Now come on it’s okay to tell me.”

“I feel like this is an invasion of Nova’s privacy and I shouldn’t even have told you what I have,” Adrian defended. He didn’t want to make Nova feel uncomfortable about it or talk about what happened the night before even if it wasn’t like any clothes came off.

“Adrian you do realize that girls confide in one another about these things right? Like if someone in the group is dating someone, whenever something happens, the other girls are going to know. Now give me the details.”

Danna probably wasn’t wrong about that. Danna and Ruby were always whispering and giggling with one another and once Nova got added into the team they didn’t exclude her from it. They just never let Oscar and Adrian participate in the conversation.

“We didn’t do anything else Danna,” He told her. 

That was all that happened. It got heated for a moment but neither of them wanted more then that and it was perfectly okay. He was glad that she didn’t start shaking from so much contact which was an improvement, but other then that there wasn’t much to really talk about. 

Adrian wasn’t going to tell Danna about how Nova was cute when she was all flustered and embarassed and how her laugh was one of the prettiest things he had ever heard.

But Adrian didn’t think Danna would really want to hear about every little thing he liked about his girlfriend.

“Okay so you’re horny but in the most boring way possible,” Danna snorted as he finished the apples.

Adrian took the last one and threw it at her. She dodged but it still hit her shoulder instead of her forehead like he was aiming for.

“Leave me alone and don’t you dare tell anyone about this. Not even Oscar and Ruby. If you make Nova upset or uncomfortable I’ll end you.”

Adrian did not want Nova to feel like her privacy had been invaded. Knowing Nova she probably didn’t care but last night was a big step for both of them and he didn’t need to risk someone overhearing and finding out and telling everyone.

“I won’t tell anyone. Besides, if I find out you made her uncomfortable or if you break her heart then I’ll end you.”

“Hey I’m your brother!” He said. “Shouldn’t you side with me if we broke up?”

“You may be my brother but I refuse to have a perverted asshole as my brother,” she said as she took the apple slice and tossed it into the trash can.

“Trust me I don’t plan on ever hurting her. I care about her too much for that.”

Danna made a gagging face.

“Eww. Gross. Go be in love with Nova somewhere else.”

Adrian rolled his eyes. “You asked about my relationship with her.”

“Whatever,” Danna said, putting the container back in her bag. “Do you want to go play video games? I feel like kicking your ass in a game is relaxing and right now I think I need to relax.”

“Sure,” Adrian agreed. “Dibs on the blue controller!” He added before sprinting downstairs.

“Not if I get it first you little shit!” Danna yelled as she chased after him as butterflies into his room in the basement.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrian and Danna talk about things and Danna evaluates her feelings.

Danna stuck her tongue out at Adrian while he glared at her. She had won the blue controller and was proud of herself. She always got the blue controller even though she knew it was Adrian’s favorite one and she always took it just because it was his favorite. He would probably give it to her if she asked politely. It was only a competition because she knew it was his favorite and made a point to take it because of that.

“Loser picks the game,” Adrian said as he looked through their options.

“Am I not the guest?” Danna asked, kicking him.

“You’re my sister so you don’t count,” he told her.

“Rude,” she said. “I should count more. I have to put up with your little lovesick heart all the time. I deserve an elevated status.”

“You asked about it!” Adrian exclaimed as he picked out Minecraft for them to play. In addition to the server that their whole friend group was on, the two of them shared their own world and had been working on it consistently for a while.

While Danna had chosen the desert biome to build a castle in, Adrian had his own house in the savanna. Usually they both hated the biome but the area Adrian had found was very cool with a lot of floating rocks and land masses and a ravine nearby.

Danna rolled her eyes at her brother.

“Whatever. You two disgust me. Love is gross.”

“Danna let’s think about all the times you’ve come to me and ranted about a pretty girl you saw like once and were crushing on.”

Danna glared, cheeks growing hot. “SHUT UP!” She exclaimed, chucking a pillow at him as their game loaded.

As he said that, Narcissa came to mind. Immediately she shoved it down. It wasn’t going to happen. The timing was bad and she was probably hung up on Nova. It would end disastrously and she couldn’t afford for her feelings to distract her from the problems she and the team were dealing with. Maybe Nova and Adrian could afford it since they were what this was revolving around but Danna couldn’t. She was leading this and for their sake, she couldn’t be derailed.

“Something’s on your mind,” Adrian said as he looked at the TV ahead and maneuvered his controller.

“And what about it?” Danna asked. She wasn’t going to hide her feelings from her brother but she also didn’t feel like spilling her guts to him.

“Well what’s bothering you?” Adrian asked, setting his controller aside to face her.

Danna sighed. Maybe it would be good to talk about it.

“So I like a girl but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t like me back. Or at least if she does she still has feelings for her ex-girlfriend,” Danna explained.

“Well you’ve been through that before. Is it different in some way? Is that why I was able to tell faster?” Adrian asked.

“I mean yeah a little. I guess I don’t want to be hung up on a girl when we’re trying to solve a murder case and have a full on heist.”

Adrian laughed and shook his head.

“It’s okay. You’re allowed to have your own feelings outside of this and yeah it might be a distraction here and there but it’s not like the rest of us aren’t going to have that either. I mean Oscar is swooning over Ruby and Nova and I are still finding a way to date and spend time with one another through all of this,” Adrian pointed out. “So it’s perfectly okay if you’ve got a girl on your mind through this.”

“Yeah but I’m the one who’s leading this and I can’t be distracted by a girl who’s part of this,” Danna said, frustrated. She then clamped a hand over her mouth realizing what she had said. She just admitted to having a crush on either Ruby, Nova, or Narcissa and it wasn’t good for Adrian to know about either.

If it was Nova, his own girlfriend, Danna knew he wouldn’t exactly be happy but knew that she wouldn’t pursue and would leave it alone but she didn’t want her brother upset with her, especially when she told him that her feelings for Nova dissolved the second she realized Adrian and her were pursuing one another. If he knew it was Ruby he would want to help set her up but he also wouldn’t want to betray Oscar like that and personally, Danna wouldn’t want to betray Oscar like that either. She was entitled to her own feelings of course but Oscar had liked Ruby for ages and was finally getting the confidence to ask her out and Danna didn’t want to ruin that for him, especially since she knew about his crush on her after all these years.

And if it was Narcissa then Adrian would definitely try and set them up and it would cause a mess. She loved her brother but sometimes he could be so insistent on helping others that he caused more problems in the process. He was too caring for his own good. Him being the Sentinel was the prime example of that.

“Which girl?” Adrian asked.

“If I tell you then you have to promise not to do anything or interfere,” Danna told him.

“Fine. Now tell me. You don’t get to know all about my love life and pester me about it only to not tell me anything about yours.”

“It’s Narcissa and when you meet her you better not do anything stupid or I will-”

“It’s Narcissa! As in the mirror walker?” Adrian asked, astonished.

Danna’s cheeks burned.

“Yes now shut up before I set your stupid house on fire,” she hissed, slamming a pillow down on his head.

“Okay! Okay!” He laughed, wrestling the pillow from her. “I won’t do anything but you have to at least try.”

“Now is not the time for-”

“Bullshit Danna. You have to try. It wouldn’t be fair to yourself if you didn’t,” Adrian insisted. He then held up his hand and jutted out his pinky. “Promise.”

Danna huffed but interlocked her finger with his. It was childish but she’d never break a pinky promise. That was something both her and her brother could agree on.

“If it backfires I blame you.”

“I’m willing to take that risk,” he said before turning back to the game.

Still, Danna was tense and on edge. Despite all the banter she shared with her brother and Nova and their friends, she was still not as lighthearted or friendly as she usually was. She was rather stressed by all of this since she had taken the lead on it all and she wasn’t sure how Adrian and Nova were able to manage it.

But then again, this was probably way less stressful then the life Nova used to lead and Adrian must have found some way to deal with it since he was already leading a double life with the Sentinel.

Danna had also never done anything that was technically illegal and while Ruby and Oscar were aware of all that was happening, it wasn’t like they were actively conspiring against the government and planning a break in. It was the right thing to do and Danna reassured that to herself all the time but it was still a lot to deal with when robbery and spying in on the government were the first and only crimes she would ever commit.

It was also the one thing she couldn’t tell her dad. Danna was sure that her dad would listen and try to understand and he would never turn her into the Renegades but he certainly wouldn’t let it continue and would ground her for a month at least. It was a new feeling to have to hide so much from her dad too.

“You sure nothing else is bothering you?” Adrian asked. “You seem off.”

“It’s all so stressful,” Danna admitted to her brother. “I’ve never really kept secrets as big as this from people and it’s weird the skirt around my dad so much. It’s also weird to break laws and plan a break in even though it’s for a good cause.”

“Danna you don’t have to be part of this if you don’t want. And if you do want to help then you don’t have to take the lead on it either. I’m sure Nova and I can handle it.”

“If I left you and Nova in charge you two would just make out the whole time,” Danna snorted as Adrian rolled his eyes. “Besides I don’t want to put more on you and Nova’s plates. You two already have a lot going on and I especially don’t want to give Nova any more things to deal with.”

“You’re allowed to step down from this,” Adrian told her. “I get where you’re coming from but it’ll be alright. You don’t have to make yourself miserable to help us.”

“It’s not that. Nova and Narcissa make good points about the flaws in the Renegades that really should be fixed and they won’t listen to her unless we can do something to prove that they should. And it’s not like the planning itself is what makes me nervous it’s just I’ve never done something that I would ever have to hide. I don’t get how you and Nova do it,” She explained.

Danna had no problems with what she was doing and didn’t find anything morally wrong with it. Sometimes what was legal wasn’t right and she was certainly willing to put everything aside to help her brother and her team. They were a family and family stuck together.

Danna just wished that she didn’t get stressed out from keeping secrets and having to hide things from people.

“At this point I’ve adjusted to keeping secrets but usually when it gets too bad I just take a break from whatever I was doing that I had to hide and just try to do stuff that helps me relax. I’d like to say Nova does the same but I think she’s numb to all of this by now and if not then she’s really good at shoving it down,” Adrian told her.

“Personally I think your girlfriend likes causing mischief and chaos for your dads too much to care about keeping more secrets,” Danna joked.

Adrian snorted. “That sounds like her. She’s polite and nice to them and I don’t think she’ll ever admit it to me but you’re probably not wrong.”

“Well that and she’s already told our team about it so it probably doesn’t feel like she’s hiding anything anymore though I will take what you do into consideration.”

“Maybe the whole team and even Narcissa should all have a game night. I’m sure Nova, Ruby, and you would love kicking everybody’s asses,” he said as he began cutting down trees in the game.

Danna finally turned back to the screen and actually played, having to turn her controller back on before she continued building her cathedral. She wasn’t Christian at all but she had to admit that the architecture and the stained glass were stunning.

“I think a game night would result in Ruby, Nova, and I all just competing with one another and leaving the rest of you guys out.”

“As I said. The three of you would just kick everybody’s asses,” Adrian said.

Danna elbowed him in the ribs, laughing as he grunted.

“You would love it if Nova kicked your ass at anything,” she giggled, sticking her tongue out.

“Shut up,” Adrian said, reaching over and shoving her.

It quickly turned into a full on war. The two of them took the little throw pillows on the couch and started beating one another with them. They tended to rough house often, especially when it was just the two of them and neither of them held back.

Danna burst into her swarm and then dropped on his bed, taking one of the big pillows and slamming it over his head. Adrian then grinned and she watched as his Minecraft character soared across the landscape and towards the cathedral she was building.

“NO NO NO NO NO!” Danna exclaimed, dropping the pillow and jumping over the back of the couch and onto the cushion. She grabbed the controller and started to chase him around with her sword while he placed a block of TNT in her cathedral.

“Apologize or say goodbye to your cathedral,” Adrian threatened.

“Fine I’m sorry,” Danna said. “Now stop being a jerk and leave my cathedral.”

“Next time I want a better apology but a deal is a deal,” he said before leaving.

Danna deleted the block. “You’re such an ass.”

“You love me.”

“You wish I loved you,” Danna said, turning her attention back to the cathedral she was building.

Already, she was beginning to feel less stressed out. Having taken her mind off of it all for a moment helped and it was always good to spend some quality time roughhousing with her baby brother. She just hoped that things calmed down soon so she was able to be more relaxed and mess around with her friends and family more without the back of her mind screaming at her.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nova being a responsible young adult while everyone tries to adopt her. Also Nova and Narcissa work some shit out.

The next morning after Nova got up and dressed, eating one of the leftover bagels she had that Adrian brought over, she headed out to Headquarters. She had to go and change her address on her forms.  
On her way out of the building, as she checked her mail, though it wasn't like there was ever anything, she spotted Cleo and Estelle and went over to them.  
"Thank you so much for the supplies," Nova said. "You didn't have to do all that."  
"Nonsense," Estelle insisted.  
"Besides it wasn't a huge deal with our powers," Cleo said. "Don't fret over it at all."  
"Well it means a lot to me," Nova said. She insisted on at least making it known how appreciative she was of all they had done for her.  
"So where are you heading to sweetheart?" Estelle asked. "Are you going to go meet up with Adrian?"  
"Oh no I just have to go down to Headquarters to change my address," Nova stuttered, heat spreading through her neck and cheeks.  
"Do you need to change your emergency contact as well? We can give you our numbers if you need a new contact?" Cleo offered, grabbing a sticky note from the desk along with a pen.  
"Are- are you sure?" Nova asked. Becoming someone's emergency contact was a large responsibility over a person, especially one they had just met.  
"Of course. We wouldn't want you getting injured and have no one to help you," Estelle said, grinning happily, handing over the paper that Cleo had written on to her.  
"I- thank you," Nova said as she took it.  
On the paper was their individual numbers, the number of their apartment, and the number of each of their workplaces.  
"Well have fun. Hope changing it isn't too much of a hassle," Cleo said, waving goodbye as Nova left the apartment and went down to Headquarters.  
It wasn't a difficult thing to change. She just went up to the desk for the section on where her contact information was and they let her go in and change it and add in the new numbers. She also removed that she lived with her paternal uncle and got rid of his information.  
It didn't take long either and the most surprising or worst part of being at HQ again was running into Simon in the elevators on her way out. He seemed surprised to see her.  
"What are you doing here Nova?" Simon asked as he got in the elevator. "You don't have patrol today."  
"I just came in to I could change my address and update my emergency contact information because I moved," she explained.  
"Oh you moved? That must be fun," Simon said brightly. Nova forced herself to smile back. He had no idea how it was the exact opposite of that.  
"Yeah the new place is cool," Nova said. It wasn't a lie but she wanted to end the conversation as quickly as possible.  
She wasn't even sure how she should address Simon and Hugh. Was she on a first name basis with them because she was dating Adrian? Or should she call them by their superhero names? Did she have to call them Mr. Westwood and Mr. Everhart because she wasn't on a first name basis but was casual enough with them that she didn't have to use their aliases for Renegades?  
Nova wasn't sure and she wasn't even sure how she should ask or even approach that subject without embarrassing herself.  
"Thank you for finding the Vitality Charm for us," Simon said.  
"Oh of course. It was no problem," Nova fibbed. It was actually a lot of work and she was mostly glad that she took it or else she might not be able to use her right arm anymore.  
"I know you just accidentally found it but we really do appreciate it. I'm going to go see Max right now actually," he told her.  
Nova smiled honestly at that. She was glad that Max was getting to spend time with his dads and she knew that since he was in the hospital, Simon probably wanted to see him now more then ever.  
The elevator door opened and both of them got off though Nova was heading in the different direction.  
"Oh and Nova," he said, before she could go too far. "You're always welcome over and allowed to stay the night."  
"Thanks," Nova said as she turned and left, heat spreading through her cheeks. It wasn't like he said it loudly or anyone heard but it still made her feel awkward for her boyfriend's dad telling her that she could always stay the night at their place of work.  
At least to her.  
Especially after what she did with Adrian last night. If they found out she'd probably never be allowed to spend the night and if she ever came over she'd die on spot from embarrassment.  
Nova then made her way home and it was around the time that she had told Narcissa she could meet up at her place and talk with her.  
She wanted to work things out with Narcissa but she was also bracing herself. Their relationship was no doubt strained and it was wrong for Nova to have kissed and made out with Narcissa only to never speak to her again until necessary.  
But that was the Anarchist's fault, not hers. At least that's what she was telling herself to help calm her nerves.  
Nova went back to her apartment and Narcissa was already there in her room on the couch, waiting.  
Awkwardly, she waved as Nova took a seat at the desk chair, nails digging into her legs out of her anxiety.  
Nova took a deep breath.  
"I'm really sorry about what happened," she said. "I know it probably hurt you. I just- the Anarchists wouldn't allow it."  
Narcissa sighed. "I figured and I don't blame you. It was just, I wasn't sure if that was the truth and we haven't spoken in so long until the library. We didn't exactly have a proper break up."  
"Yeah I'm sorry about that. I wasn't sure what to do to tell you I couldn't see you anymore," Nova admitted.  
The Anarchists had told her that she had to stop seeing Narcissa. They said it was a distraction that they were friends, unaware that the two of them were anything more. Because of that Nova wasn't sure if she should go and break up so instead she shoved down her feelings and stopped coming to the meetings that Ingrid had with Gene at the library.  
"Well we had both just turned 15 so I don't think I would have been able to really break up with you properly either," Narcissa admitted.  
"I'm sorry about your grandpa," Nova said. "Ingrid wasn't listening and-"  
"And killed him?" Narcissa asked, brow raised. "I know. At first I was mad about it but then Danna told me what happened and that you got rid of the Detonator and I know that couldn't have been easy to do since she helped raise you."  
"It wasn't hard for the reasons you think," Nova said. It had been a hard task to kill her and there was still a weight on Nova for it, but it hadn't been hard to kill her because she had raised her. At least not completely.  
The gunshots still echoed in her mind and all she could think about when she had the gun in her hand and had it aimed at the Detonator was when she had the gun aimed at the hitman as he was knocked out on the floor.  
It was like history was repeating itself.  
Someone had caused massive damage towards her and tried to kill her and now she had to hold her ground, especially if she wanted Adrian or anyone else to live. And both times no one was coming to save her.  
However, it wasn't like Nova didn't get upset about losing Ingrid and being the one to have to kill her. She had done terrible things to Nova and drove her insane but Nova couldn't help but care about her.  
She felt the same way now about Leroy and Honey. They had committed horrors and atrocities to her or at least had let them happen. But still she cared for them and still she felt guilty even though she knew it wasn't her fault for wanting safety and security and happiness.  
"Well thanks anyways," Narcissa said.  
There was a moment of silence, Nova swinging her legs and Narcissa curling up on the couch.  
"Did you leave the Anarchists?" Narcissa asked quietly.  
"Yeah," Nova said. "Yeah I left last night."  
The thought of it brought tears to her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. She didn't want to talk much about anything that happened last night.  
"I'm glad you got out," Narcissa said. "And I know you might not believe it but I still think of you as my friend and I still care about you."  
Nova smiled. "I still care about you too and I wish we could be friends in a normal way. I mean we are but just one day, once all of this is over and we fix the Renegades system, then we can be friends and do things that friends do. No more concocting plots against big headed adults. Instead we can do something like bowling or roller skating."  
Narcissa laughed. "That sounds like it would be fun and I do hope we can do stuff like that one day."  
"So why are you helping us?" Nova asked. "What do you really gain from this?"  
"I'm doing this partially because you're my friend and partially because I think Danna is cute but mostly because I think that if we can figure this out we'd have enough leverage and traction to fix all the major problems in the Renegades. They've made great strides in prodigy rights but most of what it's done has turned prodigies into either superheroes or people that have to help in a situation even if they aren't a Renegade or they're still villains and bad people. Either we're some superhero forced on a pedestal of a supervillain to discard. I don't want to be either I just wanted to be viewed as a normal human," Narcissa explained.  
Nova knew the feeling. People had become far too reliant on prodigies to fix all their problems and if they didn't then they made a mockery of them one way or another or hated them for it as if anyone was entitled to someone else's powers.  
Nova would admit, if someone is in a situation where they could help one another then they should. But the problem was that prodigies were expected to just turn into superheroes at the drop of the hat if they could help someone purely because they had powers. However just because someone had powers didn't mean they could help and even if they did they were allowed to be scared and frightened and not do anything due to safety reasons.  
Prodigies were still disposable. It was as simple as that.  
They were expected to risk their life and serious injury or else they were villainized or mocked, cast aside. If they didn't have a direct purpose then they still weren't worth anything even though they were a human life.  
Nova hated it and even if the Renegades had good intentions and it was terrific to see a whole government run by prodigies, but that didn't mean they were a good government or were really making things better for prodigies. They could like being idolized all they want but not everyone did and not all prodigies had the ability to be idolized.  
It only helped a select few and pushed all the other prodigies aside. It made them seem like they were better then those prodigies.  
"I understand that many Renegades actually want to do good but once you put people on a pedestal and give them so much power bad things are bound to happen and already are happening. A lot of problems have been fixed but prodigy acceptance and rights still are a problem that has yet to be solved."  
"I think we can get there. I hope we can get there."  
"Let's just hope we can accomplish that task without people knowing my actual identity," Nova said. She meant as Nightmare but also as Ace's niece. Both could not be told to anyone.  
"Well that's where I come in. I just slip in and out of places using the mirrors so you don't have to and no one will suspect a thing," Narcissa said, grinning.  
"Speaking of that, you can hide things in the mirror realm right?" Nova asked.  
"I can bring in objects but not other people."  
"That's good because we're probably going to give you anything incriminating so you can hide it there."  
"I figured."  
"By the way, I know we probably can't put back Ace's actually helmet but, on the south side of Gatlon in the abandoned subway tunnels there's a mirror in one of the cars with all my Nightmare gear and I know Leroy will just disintegrate it in acid but there's also the helmet in the tote bag by the mirror. Do you think you could store it in the mirror realm if it's still there?" Nova asked.  
She couldn't exactly take it from the Anarchists on her own but she could hide it away from them. She didn't want to take any chances.  
"Sure. I should probably go tell Danna that we're on good terms now too," Narcissa said as she stood up. She then went back through the mirror and Nova relaxed. It was another problem she no longer had to deal with.  
However, one problem that Nova did need to take care of was cleaning up the apartment. It wasn't like it was dirty she just hadn't been able to deep clean it when she first got there because she didn't have any cleaning supplies yet.  
She trusted that Cleo and Estelle made sure it was clean but Nova didn't want to take any more chances. She had lived her whole life in terrible living conditions and didn't want a single shred of that in her new life.  
Nova found all the cleaning supplies and changed into some clothes she didn't really care about before wiping everything down and sweeping and mopping and making sure everything was at least sanitized. She also threw the sheets in the wash just because she figured they were new and it was always good to wash something like sheets or clothes when they were new.  
After that, Nova had a trash bag full of paper towels and other garbage and for good measure she tossed the condoms that were in the nightstand out too. She did not need them nor did she plan on needing them at all anytime in the recent future and she certainly didn't need Adrian or anyone finding them.  
Nova took the trash out to the shoot and then went back into her apartment and showered off so she didn't feel all grimy. Directly after she sent Cleo and email and took up her offer on therapy. It would probably help even if Nova would never be able to tell anyone the full truth.  
It was a lot of work and Nova constantly was swinging back and forth from being happy to exhausted in every aspect but it was alright. She was getting to where she needed to be and was at least in a much safer circumstance now.  
For once in her life she was hopeful for the future and wasn't fearing of the worst.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danna, Narcissa, and Nova begin to plan their HQ break in while Danna pines for Narcissa.

Danna handed Nova the slip of paper with the password for the locked files in HQ and sat down on the pink couch in Nova's room. She actually thought her new apartment was cute and while she wasn't expecting the bright pink couch and floral sheets, she thought it was nice.

Narcissa came through the mirror and then sat beside her, giving her a reassuring smile. It made her heart pound and she smiled back politely before turning away so Narcissa didn't catch on.

Nova, in the mean time, had taken all the information they had all collected and laid it out on the floor, mulling over their options.

"Okay so it's not too hard of a plan," she said. "Thursday night I have my shift of just me start at 9 though it would be less suspicious if you guys came around 7:30 when Callum and I are both there."

"Why?" Narcissa asked. "Won't he just find out?"

Nova smiled at her. "No he won't because if the whole team comes to get some random artifact then Callum and I can split off into groups and the whole team can be a distraction. Six people talking and looking around together will be noisy and keep him plenty occupied if he's not listing off every fact he knows about every object."

Danna frowned. Having the whole team come and distract Callum was a good idea. No one would think anything wrong about the whole group working together to locate something like they usually did, the five of them a well oiled machine and perfectly capable of capturing Callum's attention. Danna just wasn't sure if they had the acting abilities to do so.

Callum was very perceptive. Danna had learned that after filing things with him in the Artifacts when she was recovering from her burn injury. He would most likely be able to see right through them and catch on.

"But it's Callum," Danna pointed out. "If anyone could figure out that it's all a rouse then it would be him. He always knows if someone is lying or hiding something."

"Yes but he's also incredibly trusting and knowing him, if he were to figure this all out, he wouldn't immediately report us and instead would probably try and hear our side of the story. He's the most perceptive but he's also the easiest person to convince and get to trust you. As long as we can prove that there's a good cause and what we're doing is relatively harmless to the general public, I think he'd let us be. Besides if it's all of us he might just think we're messing around and as long as Narcissa is quick and quiet about slipping through the mirror then we should be fine."

Danna bit her lip but reluctantly agreed. "Alright. Then we'll go at 7:30 instead of 9."

"Yeah how is that going to work anyways?" Narcissa said. "I mean we'd have to get a decently large mirror in place or at least close enough for me to slip in quietly and that means you would have done it earlier at your shift."

"Lucky for you, Callum and I have a bunch of larger items we haven't charted including mirrors. We do everything by category so if I were to haul over a bunch of mirrors to log them in it wouldn't be suspicious. They'd have to be logged eventually and we already planned on doing bulk stuff on Thursday. For all anyone knows you could have just been waiting for the perfect opportunity," Nova said.

"I feel like this all happened way too conveniently," Danna said. 

She had no real reason to be suspicious of either of them as if they were to backstab her then she could do the same back and end all of it right then and there. However, it just seemed too picture perfect to Danna. There was no way it was all falling into place so easily.

"It's convenient because Callum and I have made a system. I've already done the work prior before any of you were involved in case I needed to pull something like this," Nova said.

Danna was impressed at how much effort Nova put into attempting to overthrow the government. She really was planning on playing the game for however long she needed to and had made sure to put in place as many safety nets as possible.

"You really thought ahead on all of this stuff," Narcissa said, obviously having the same thoughts as Danna.

"The Anarchists had this plan going for them since I was 7 and it's not like I have the luxury of slipping up," Nova pointed out.

Danna shivered twisted at the thought of how long the Anarchists had come up with this plan. There was no reason for them to take in a child, even if it was the niece of their fallen leader. The Anarchists weren't exactly kid friendly and they raised her even after the battle when they could have easily given her up to the Renegades.

There was no reason for her to have stayed with them unless no matter what, they planned on using her as their pawn. A child would be a small sacrifice to them and a necessary one too.

Danna's horror outweighed any respect she would have had for the Anarchists for being so patient when playing the long game for their plots.

She knew a lot about what Nova had gone through from her own observations, but she still couldn't fathom how bad it must be once it was really hitting Nova. Danna also had a suspicion that the Anarchists must have had a hand in Nova's family passing away. Being Ace Anarchy's niece and then being raised as a pawn couldn't have been a coincidence. It was the Age of Anarchy and anything could have happened.

Part of Danna wanted for it to be true that Ace had killed Nova's parents. As tragic and heart-wrenching as it would be, it would definitely make sure Nova was on their side, even if it was a cruel thought.

The other part of Danna didn't want it to be true because she couldn't bear to see Nova go through anymore pain then she already had. To hear that her uncle was the one who had her parents killed would hurt way more then the story she knew.

Not like Nova would exactly want Danna's pity anyways though. It was Nova after all.

Narcissa leaned over and collected all the papers.

"I'll keep these in the mirror. No one is going to find it there," Narcissa said before walking to the mirror and sticking it in.

The idea of contraband made Danna nervous but she squashed it before she chickened out of the plan too much. Everything was going to be fine and she kept reassuring herself that she was doing the right thing because she really was.

The law wasn't always moral or just and if she was going to be a superhero then sometimes it was necessary to disregard those rules to do the right thing that would actually help people.

"So are we just storing everything in the mirror?" Danna asked.

"Yeah," Narcissa said, sitting back down next to her. "Where else are we going to put it where it can be 100% safe. No one but me will have access to it."

"Just don't get caught," Nova snorted.

"Please," Narcissa scoffed. "How are they supposed to lock me up? I'll find a mirror eventually and then I'll be long gone."

Danna was a little shocked by the confidence. From what the team had told her, Narcissa was shy and reserved. She wondered if it was all an act or if she was comfortable enough around Danna to be her true self. Or maybe Nova and Narcissa were still just really close and couldn't help but be sarcastic and cocky around one another.

It was a bit of a weird shift though not one she hated. However Danna was terrible around every girl she'd ever crushed on and new if Narcissa was cocky around her without Nova around then Danna was going to accidentally make it known that she was crushing on Narcissa by falling apart if she made an over confident comment to her.

"So do we have our plan set?" Danna asked, regaining control of her thoughts. "I can text them now and have them come over."

"I'd give it another day. Tell them to come over tomorrow so it's not so sudden and that way when we see them at HQ before we can give them the heads up about Narcissa joining our crew," Nova said.

"What time?" Narcissa asked.

"We get off of patrol at 3."

"Then I'll be here waiting by then," Narcissa said before getting up. "I've got to go but I'll see you guys tomorrow."

She went through the mirror and Danna couldn't help but watch, eyes frozen on it moments after even though she was far gone.

After a minute, when she finally turned back to Nova, she found her smirking.

"What?" Danna asked. "Why do you look so smug?"

"You like Narcissa don't you?" Nova asked, grinning wildly.

Danna hid her hands in her face. "Don't you say a word to her. I'm not going to fuck us all over and make things awkward between the two of us when she inevitably rejects me."

"Well you never know that," Nova said. "Might as well go for it when this is all over. Who knows. She might like you back by then too."

"Just don't tell her," she warned Nova once more.

"I won't. Relax. Look I'm a wanted criminal but I'm not evil," she said, rolling her eyes.

Danna couldn't help but laugh.

"You and Adrian have given me the same advice about this did you know that?"

Nova snorted. "I think Adrian is starting to rub off on me."

"Good thing he had. If not we wouldn't have a war criminal best friend."

Nova burst out laughing. Danna wasn't sure if what she had done was actually a war crime or not but it was still funny to act like they were. Regardless, she could probably still be charged with treason and attempted murder.

Danna smiled. She was glad that the two of them were really, truthfully getting along. She had always liked Nova and their sense of humor was very similar so it would be a tragedy if they weren't good friends at the least. It would be a complete waste of quick-witted remarks against their team above all.

It seemed like things were beginning to look up for all of them and soon, it would all be over. The ends would justify the means and Danna wouldn't have to feel so stressed about what she knew. She was a terrible liar and she didn't want to screw things over for all of them.

Of course at this point, Nova had constructed a series of well thought out lies that made so much sense that no one would really refute it. If Nova could lie through her teeth with ease about something so major then Danna could do the same to have her teammates backs.

She would always have the backs of her teammates, including Narcissa who was being added to the team at this point.

Danna really wanted to add Narcissa to their team.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team hears the rest of the plan.

Adrian sat on the couch in Nova's apartment, Ruby and Oscar at either side of them. Danna and Nova were at her desk, laying out information that the two had no doubt gathered through spying. However, there was a new addition to the party which was Narcissa, the mirror walker that Danna had told him about.

Already he could see how flustered Danna was over by having her around. She seemed more hesitant to take things out of Narcissa's hands or be near her then she had ever been around him or anyone else and it was easy to see in comparison to how she worked with Nova.

Adrian wondered if he had been that bad around Nova as everyone seemed to have figured out his crush on her fairly quickly. At least everyone but Nova though he wasn't completely sure on that either. She had never said if she could tell or not and it could have gone either way since she was very perceptive but also had just met him at that moment and knew nothing about him and probably wasn't aware of how he operated around people he hardly knew.

It didn't matter really. Nova was still his girlfriend which was the goal.

"Can we ask who the new girl is?" Oscar asked, pointing to Narcissa.

"Isn't that the mirror walker from the library?" Ruby questioned.

"Yeah this is Narcissa," Nova explained.

"I'm part of this now," Narcissa said a little sheepishly. Adrian did remember that she was decently shy. 

However, it was clear she was very comfortable around Nova and the two of them seemed to be good friends. He figured the only two kids who were raised in a criminal underground would be close with one another.

"How did that happen?" Oscar laughed, finding the situation almost comical. Ruby seemed a little amused by it too. Of course, the two of them could turn any situation into a funny one. It was like another superpower they both had.

"Well the two of us have the same objective and were already friends. Before you all Narcissa was the only person my age I actually knew," Nova explained, shrugging it off.

Narcissa muttered something under her breath and Nova snorted, agreeing with her. He could hear her say something about the Anarchists and Adrian wasn't sure if he really wanted to know or not. He found that he had that feeling constantly when it came to Nova's history.

Adrian wanted to know it so he could comfort her and understand her better but at the same time it was almost always horrific stories he was being told so it did not make him keen to learn about her past.

"So what's the plan exactly?" Oscar asked. "I mean that is why we all came here right?"

"Excellent question," Danna said, a little rushed. "Basically, Narcissa is going to break into the Archives using a mirror and we all just have to keep her cover and make sure everything is set up so none of us get caught."

"And how are we doing that?" Ruby asked.

"I have my shift in the Archives Thursday night with Callum. We all have patrol Friday night and we also have Max. Callum and I are also putting a lot of the bulkier items into the files Thursday night because we have a schedule for it and it thankfully includes a big mirror. When we check things we bring them over to the computers so I can just be bringing over the big items to check them in and then put them all back later. In that time frame, you will all come down looking for some object in the Archives for whatever reason so Callum is distracted and I can pretend to be distracted," Nova said.

"We'll split up so Callum will go farther from the computers and Nova will be closer and if either of them hear some sort of crash we can pass it off as assuming someone in the other group must have dropped something and not Narcissa," Danna explained.

"Isn't that risky though?" Adrian asked. "What if Callum tries to lead us closer to the computers where he can see Narcissa?"

"Trust me he won't. I have Archives again tonight and I can probably find some specific object in the logs that we would need for whatever reason. I mean we accidentally found the Vitality Charm which helped Max so it would be completely reasonable for you to say that you're looking around to see if there's anything else that would be helpful. Knowing Callum he will manage to go on a tangent about some random object so if he starts getting suspicious just ask about something random you found on the shelves and it will keep him plenty occupied," Nova said.

"Then while you all do that and keep him distracted, I'm going to go through the mirror and look at the files we need. I'll be in and out shortly and Nova can just keep a little mirror on her so I can give her a thumbs up when I'm done. If not I'm sure Danna can just make an excuse to go around in the vents as butterflies and check in if worst comes to worst. While Nova finishes her shift you guys will meet me back here for everything," Narcissa elaborated.

"You really think this will work?" Adrian asked. It all seemed too good to be true. Everything about the plan seemed perfect and it fell into place very conveniently. It made him a little uneasy. 

"How come Nova can't just break in as Nightmare?" Oscar asked.

"Because I really don't want to," Nova said, lips twitching briefly into a frown.

"It also makes for a much more efficient break in if I do it and it's not like they could trace it back to Nova. I'm not even in their system," Narcissa explained.

"What about security cameras?" Ruby asked. "What if they catch Narcissa and then see us around her later?"

"Oh fuck," Danna muttered under her breath.

"Well cameras have mirrors in them right?" Narcissa asked. "I can break mirrors from inside of them with a hammer easily. I can also move things through mirrors so while cameras are small I can take a bobby pin or something and dismantle it from the inside."

"I also know exactly where all the cameras are and can place the mirror in the spot with the worst angle to make it easier though I would still dismantle them all," Nova suggested.

"Is all this hassle really worth whatever information you need on the files?" Oscar questioned. "I don't mean to doubt your expertise but shouldn't it be things Nova already knows?"

Nova shook her head. "Not really. I was little when it all happened and the Anarchists weren't ever going to tell me anything and it's not like the Renegades are either unless I come clean about everything which isn't happening anytime soon."

"Why can't Adrian just ask?" Ruby questioned.

"My dads don't like talking about it and they've already deterred me from anything Nightmare related completely so it's pointless," Adrian explained.

Adrian had tried countless times to learn more about Nightmare and learn more about what happened to his mom. But if he asked anything about cases that weren't that of his own mother, he got a spiel on confidentiality. He was never getting access to those files without breaking the rules.

And of course the second Adrian asked about anything he thought was related to Nightmare he got another lecture about it and how he was worrying too much, even though now, and unbeknownst to them, was now for helping Nightmare.

"So Nova sets it up, Narcissa breaks in, the rest of us play decoy?" Oscar asked.

"Yes. Thursday night at 7:30 you all better be there or else we're screwed," Danna said.

"Yes!" Ruby said excitedly. "I love playing decoy. It's so much fun."

"I admire the enthusiasm but please take this a little bit more serious. There's actual consequences for all of us if this falls through. Not more then just letting some bad guy get away," Nova pointed out.

"Right. Right. Sorry. Though it is a little fun," she said. "You can't hell me you didn't have a good time faking us out as Nightmare every now and then."

Nova grinned and so did Ruby. "I'll give you that. When I wasn't super anxious I was laughing at how gullible you all were. I fucked up so many times. I don't know how no one but Danna noticed."

"I think if you do get caught they should just let you get away with it," Danna said. "At this point it's sort of on them."

"If I made it that easy to get caught but didn't I think it just means I had every right to do so because I made all the problems obvious so really everyone should be thanking me for both messing up everything and fixing all the issues," Nova said, almost laughing. Danna, Narcissa, and her all seemed to find it incredibly funny though Adrian just felt a bit dumb about it and took it with a more serious tone.

Nova wasn't wrong about the issues that were there and they needed to be fixed. While they could laugh about it all they liked, Adrian preferred to remind himself why the problems were important so the right thing could be done by fixing it.

"Ahh yes," Oscar said sarcastically. "Our bad for trusting you since you are our teammate."

"Oh nothing against you all. But full offense to everyone else," Nova said.

"Actually no," Danna said, laughing. "Full offense to all of you. We spent the most time with her and should be the ones figuring it out right away. Also I called her out on it real fast and was super suspicious so none of you get excuses."

"This is slander," Ruby complained.

"It's actually pretty factual. I mean I hadn't spoken to Nova in months and I figured it out in minutes," Narcissa said shrugging.

"You also had outsider information. You don't count," Oscar said.

"Why hadn't the two of you spoken in months?" Adrian asked, wanting to change the subject but also genuinely curious to what happened between them.

"Anarchists," Narcissa and Nova said in sync, neither of them looking particularly happy to discuss it any further. Adrian left it at that, already making the assumption that the Anarchists forced them to stop talking against the wishes of both of them.

"So we have a plan set?" Adrian asked. "We all know what we're supposed to do."

Everyone in the room nodded.

Adrian sure hoped they all knew what they were doing and were telling the truth otherwise they were all completely screwed.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The heist commences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No i did no beta and i never will i'd rather die also yes i know i haven't updated in ages but i don't owe anyone anything and im vibing so it doesn't matter deal with it bc im not sorry.

Danna walked to the Artifacts with Adrian, Ruby, and Oscar.

Nova and her had already set up a series of fake messages on their bands that made it so Nova told them to come down while she was there so she could help them, giving them the all clear to put the plan into motion to cover up what they were really doing.

Even though Danna knew she wasn't actually going to be doing much besides asking questions to Callum and overall playing dumb, adrenaline was coursing through her body. She felt so nervous and wasn't the best at pretending or lying. Even though she knew it was the right thing and what needed to be done, it still made her so incredibly nervous and made her feel guilty. She felt as if she might burst into her swarm mode at any second from pure nerves alone.

Danna pushed the door open and at one of the desks was Callum and Danna spotted Nova moving something on a cart towards computers in the back.

Callum noticed them right away, giving them a big grin.

"Hey Danna," he said. 

The two of them were somewhat friends from her time helping out in the Artifacts while she was healing from the burn that Adrian accidentally gave her. They were friendly and trusted one another and that was enough for her to get past his suspicions if he had any.

"Hey Callum," Danna said warmly. 

"What do you guys need out check out?" He asked.

"Well after finding the Vitality Charm we figured there might be other things in the Artifacts that could help with getting Max out of quarantine," Adrian explained.

"Anything specific?" Callum asked. 

"No just in general. We figured we'd all come and look around to make it easier," Adrian went on.

"We can split up," Nova suggested, coming over. "It's probably more efficient to just look around and see what we find. Also more fun."

"What about all the stuff we were about to catalog?" Callum asked.

"We can get it done just fine later. We can figure this out shortly if we split up and then if we have too much I'll just take care of it myself later tonight. It's not like it effects me at all," Nova said casually.

Danna would admit, she was very convincing and she couldn't even tell that Nova was lying. She must have been very used to it already but even then, it was like it was the truth. There was no tells that she could even spot. Not a single lip quirk or tapping of foot or biting of nails or twirling of hair to give any indication that something was amiss. Lies and truths were all the same to her and while Danna knew Nova was a good person at heart, the way she could say anything without giving a hint to anything was a frightening ability.

Danna didn't think Callum could tell Nova was lying either, no matter how perceptive he was. But he also believed in the best of people as that was part of his powers and probably wasn't trying to look for them either. He most likely trusted Nova more then he did with Danna, even if it wasn't hard to earn his trust.

Callum and Nova whisked the group away, Nova taking Ruby and Oscar and Callum taking Adrian and Danna. 

She almost wondered if Adrian not going with Nova made Callum suspicious. They were dating after all. Why would they not pair up?

Danna chastised herself. She was worrying too much, letting the situation overwhelm her and she needed to stop before she screwed them all over.

"I think Nova went down for items that heal things but I think objects that are for protection would probably work just as well," Callum said as they went through rows of shelving. All of it was alphabetized and meticulously ordered with care and intent.

She remembered it being extremely well organized but something about it now seemed even more pristine. Callum and Tina certainly cared a lot about it but Nova having nothing better to do probably made their system all the more efficient and put together.

The objects that surrounded them were plentiful in a range of sizes and colors and shapes. Things that looked like every day items and things that looked like they were from Danna's wildest imagination took up space on the metal shelving units.

Danna began rummaging around, genuinely looking for anything that could help Max. As much as she wanted to help Nova and Adrian in their endeavors, she also wanted to let Max have a normal childhood. That and it was much easier to fall into her roll if she was actually doing it.

Danna looked at different items and the information on their tag. Most Renegades didn't actually know the name or names of the exact item they were looking for or the specifics of the items so a brief summary was kept on a tag that had different descriptors on them so make them easier to search up.

Most objects in protection were things like shields or gauntlets and things in that general category. There wasn't much on protection from curses or powers and Danna hoped Nova and the others were having a better time looking compared to her, if they were even actually looking.

"What about this?" Callum asked, holding up a button or pin of some sort. "It gives the wearer a force field of types. It's like their own bubble."

"Could work," Adrian said. "But also that still might keep Max from actually having contact with anyone or anything."

Callum frowned briefly but moved on, not letting it bother him.

In the mean time, Danna dug through a small bin of jewelry that had little tags attached to the metal. A lot of items for protection tended to be jewelry and small items so they were more compact and therefore could be taken anywhere. It was more effective that way. That is if it wasn't something as bulky as a shield or armor. 

"I'll see if Nova, Ruby, or Oscar have found anything where they're looking," Adrian said, pulling out his wristband.

He sent the message and they all went back to looking in the bins. It wasn't for another half hour until Adrian got a response.

"They said they haven't had much luck but if we want to come down and search there with them to see if they missed anything then to come," Adrian said, looking up from his wristband.

"Yeah I don't think we'll find anything here but shield and force field generators," Callum said, a little disappointed. "But it can't hurt to give Nova and the others a brief check through."

Callum then lead them through a maze of shelves, bringing them to Oscar, Nova, and Ruby. Instead of using a ladder, though Danna didn't see one nearby, Nova had climbed up the shelves to look in the bins. It didn't surprise Danna at all.

Nova didn't ask for help and she didn't care how short she was and how hard it would be to reach something; she was going to get to it on her own and there was no doubt about it.

"You guys find anything?" Nova asked from her spot on the shelves as she looked through something.

"We thought we did but it won't work very well," Callum said.

"Aww. Sorry," Ruby said sympathetically. "We might have just found something though."

"Right before you guys came," Oscar said, holding up another necklace of sorts. "Apparently the Vitality Charm has a twin."

"Really?" Adrian said, genuinely seeming shocked and excited. 

"Yeah who would have guessed," Ruby said. "I mean we literally just found it. But apparently it was a set and the first one was already checked in under a different name which was probably why it wasn't found before."

"It got logged in as the Protection Amulet," Nova said from her spot on the shelves. "I can't tell which name for it is worse but they look the exact same and have the same information on their tags."

Adrian looked up, spotting her high up.

"Get down before you fall," he said bluntly. As protective as he was, stunts like these were normal from Nova and probably most normal to him.

"I'm fine. Look who you're talking to," Nova said casually, waving away his concern but still climbing down as requested. Adrian took her hands and helped her down from the shelves once she was close enough to the floor.

Oscar handed the necklace to Adrian. "We should probably go check that out."

"I've got it," Callum said, nodding back to the desk space.

"Yeah I should probably go work on cataloging things," Nova said. "I'll see you guys at patrol tomorrow."

Nova then turned and went to the computers where some large objects, such as a shimmering full body mirror, were waiting.

Adrian checked out the Protection Amulet and then they all left for their meet up point. First Adrian dropped off the Vitality Charm at his place and also got his key to Nova's apartment before they all gathered there.

Nova's place wasn't a long walk and all of them were bouncing on their heels the whole time. Hopefully everything worked the way they wanted.

As they entered the building, an older woman at the front desk smiled at them, seemingly recognizing Adrian and somewhat the rest of them. Danna vaguely recognized them from passing by through the halls from the times she had come over to Nova's apartment. She believed they were one of the owners of the building, Cleo and Estelle.

"Where's Nova?" The woman with the box braids, Estelle, asked. She seemed genuinely worried and Nova had mentioned before that her neighbors and the owners of the building were very kind and caring ladies.

"She's going to come home from work soon. We were just stopping by so we can all hang out tonight," Adrian explained.

"You sure she'll get home safely," Estelle asked, concerned.

"Trust me, she'll be fine on her own," Oscar said. "If anyone will be it's her."

"I'm holding you all to that you know," she said, almost like a warning.

It was sweet how much they cared about her after knowing her for so little time. Nova deserved someone, some actual adults, to look after her and be there for her.

They talked more with Estelle before they took the elevator up and when they came inside Narcissa was waiting. She held up a few stacks of papers, a blank one covering the top.

"I've got everything we need and I also wiped out all the information on Nightmare's file," Narcissa said grinning.

She set it down and as the blank sheet fluttered up, Danna caught a glimpse of the printed information.

"If you printed this out can't they trace it back to you?" Danna asked.

Narcissa shook her head. "Nope. I have a no trace hard drive that Nova made a while ago. I was working on a surprise for my granddad and she made it for me so he wouldn't find it on any of the library computers or stuff like that and I thankfully never got rid of it. They won't know anyone downloaded or uploaded anything. Probably her best invention and my smartest idea."

"That's actually genius," Danna said.

A no trace hard drive could have a multitude of uses. It could be used for mundane things like surprise birthday planning but also confidential information, regardless of the intent of it.

"Thank you," Narcissa said proudly while Adrian shot Danna a look, feigning a smug grin. It took every bone of impulse control in her to not punch him in the shoulder for it.

"So are we going to wait for Nova to read it or not?" Ruby asked. "I want to see what's inside and if we're on the right path."

"I'd say wait for Nova to come back so she can read her own file since it might be personal but we can just go through my mom's now," Adrian said. "I assume that's part of the reason you put a blank sheet on the top."

Narcissa nodded. "Yeah and I split it up in sections too. Don't worry."

Narcissa pulled the stack into three parts. One was Nova's file, three files for her family members, one was Georgia's file, and the last had Nightmare on it.

"Why would you bring Nightmare's file here if you wiped it off their data base?" Oscar asked, thinking the same thing as Danna.

"So we know what they know about her. We already know everything but it's still good to know what things they're aware of and what they think they know about her so we can play our cards right," Narcissa pointed out. "I also wiped out the file on my grandpa and me but kept my own copy but that's in my mirror space. I also of course wiped out some information on a bunch of files here and there just to make sure it seems like something went wrong not something was intentionally done."

"You really thought everything through," Ruby said, a little impressed.

Narcissa nodded. "Again, Nova and I were raised by criminals. Planning out for every possibility is sort of a skill you need to survive. Literally."

She shivered a little and Danna's face soured. She tried not to think too hard about what Narcissa and Nova, especially Nova, had gone through while they were raised.

But things were looking up and they were going to change. Narcissa and Nova were going to be okay and everyone was going to be safe and justice would be served. 

"This is your job," Danna reminded herself. This was what she had signed up for and she was going to make sure she kept her word on the commitment she made.


End file.
